Robert M. KimKOR632

Korean Phonology Explained

Introduction

Learning a foreign language takes quite a few different directions in understanding how a person perceives the sound and how sound alternates because of how various parts of vocal organs function - as opposed to only concentrating on semantic or lexical approach to achieve primal goal of being able to deciphering the language.

If we only knew how to read such language, we would be studying or teaching our students a dead language.

Korean is not a dead language however. It evolves together as their society progresses, but at the same time the functionality of the vocal organs and how it inhibits or aids in making certain sounds still tends to be very similar to how it was decades or even centuries ago and/or nearly never changed because it should involve physiological changes to the human body.

In such sense when a systematically established rule that explains how certain sounds are produced in target languages are clearly explained, a quest to learn a new language would be of more comprehensive and applicable to real life situations that a student may face one day.

This report will introduce some of the topics covered in Korean phonology and discuss their implications.

The Yale Romanization will be used throughout this report for Korean pronunciations unless noted within the contexts.

Vocal organs affect how sound is produced (Cheon, 2000)

Some of the vital vocal organs and place of articulations that affect consonant sounds in spoken language are introduced (Cheon, 186 -187).

They are: vocal chords → uvula → oral cavity/nasal cavity* → tongue: back, middle, front, tip → soft palate → hard palate → alveolar ridge → upper/lower teeth → upper/lower lips (in order of air passing through, originating from lungs).

Speech sounds are categorized into vowels and consonants in which vowels are classified as a sound produced by air from the lungs as it passes through oral cavity without restriction from the places of articulations but differentiate it's sound by shape of the cavity itself. On the other hand the consonants are defined as sound produced by the air which are affected as it passes through different parts of articulators such as tongue, teeth, or lips, etc. (Cheon, 187).

Korean consonants can be classified according to places and manner of articulation as follows (Cheon, 188)

-By place of articulation

Bilabial: ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅃ, ㅁ;

Alveolar: ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㄴ, ㄹ;

Palatal: ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅉ;

Velar: ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ, ㅇ;

Glottal: ㅎ.

-By manner of articulation

Stop: ㅂ, ㄷ, ㄱ, ㅈ, ㅍ, ㅌ, ㅋ, ㅊ, ㅃ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅉ;

Fricatives: ㅅ, ㅆ;

Nasal: ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅇ;

Liquid: ㄹ;

Glide: ㅎ.

-And also sounds can be said to be 'voiced' if they are produced by vibration of vocal chords, or 'voiceless' if not. Korean stops and fricatives are considered to be voiceless.

-Vowels in Korean

Korean vowels are categorized by tongue height(high, mid, low) and position(front, back) and roundness of the lips(rounded, unrounded).

Korean Syllable System

Korean is considered as 'syllable-centric' language which consists of onset(a consonant) + nucleus(vowel) + coda(or ZERO).

The CV(consonant + vowel) patterned syllables are most easily pronounced and sounds natural among different types of patterns, and often phonological process such as 'resyllabification' occurs during actual spoken language to accommodate ease of pronunciation (Cheon, 2000).

Korean Phonological Process Explained (Sohn, 2001)

Rule 1: Resyllabification

Resyllabification is defined as when a syllable coda is followed by vowel/glide+vowel or h+vowel, the coda element in preceding syllable are carried over to onset of next syllable for more natural sound.

Such patterns are frequently observed among many Korean second language learners when they transcribe a spoken language and also prevalent among native speakers as well (Cheon, 2000).

Examples:

책이 → [채기]

있어요 → [이써요]

직원 → [지권]

결혼 → [겨론]

약혼 → [야콘]

*When the syllable coda is a cluster of two consonants such as 읽 as 'read', only second

consonant of the cluster is carried over as resyllabification.

읽어요 → [일거요]

앉았다 → [안자따]

값을 → [갑쓸]

밟아요 → [발바요]

Rule 2: Coda Neutralization

Syllable coda as a consonant can only be distinguished if they are released; thus if they are not

released, the coda sound ㅂ, and ㅍ are neutralized to [p].

For example:

입 → [입]

잎 → [입]

앞집 → [압찝]

When alveo-dental, palatal stops, and fricative ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅎ are all neutralized to

[t]. An exception would be when ㅎ are aspirated after lax stops (h-aspiration).

Example:

낟 → [낟]

낱 → [낟]

낫 → [낟]

낮 → [낟]

낯 → [낟]

히읗 → [이읃]

밭갈이 → [받까리]

옷안 → [오단]

웃옷 → [우돋]

갔다 → [갇따]

잊다 → [읻따]

빛깔 → [빋깔]

Velar stops ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ are neutralized to [k] sound as follows.

저녁 → [저녁]

낚시 → [낙시]

밖 → [박]

부엌비 → [부억비]

When a vowel succeeds the neutralized coda, the neutralized consonant coda are released as follows.

값어치 → [가버치]

팥알 → [파달]

부엌앞 → [부어갑]

Rule 3: h-aspiration

If a lax stop of a morpheme is combined with following syllable onset ㅎ, they merge into an

aspirated stop as follows. However this rule must be applied before Rule 2.

좋다 → [조타]

많게 → [만케]

옳지 → [올치]

직행 → [지캥]

밥하다 → [바파다]

받히다 → [바치다]

Rule 4: Sibilation

Alveo-dental, palatal stops, and fricatives changes to sound [t] if we apply coda neutralization

principle(#2). And this [t] switches to [s] if it preceeds ㅅ or ㅆ . The sibilated consonant may

often deleted in actual pronunciation by pretense/aspirate reduction rule(#14, which to follow after).

Example:

빛살 → [빋살] → [비(ㅅ)쌀]

젖소 → [젇소] → [저(ㅅ)쏘]

좋소 → [졷소] → [조(ㅅ)쏘]

못쓴다 → [몯쓴다] → [모(ㅅ)쓴다]

닿소리 → [닫소리] → [다(ㅅ)쏘리]

Rule 5: [n , l] epenthesis

When a word or stem (other than [l]) begins with [i] or [j], an epenthetic [n] is prefixed.

Example:

짓이기다 → [진니기다]

홑이불 → [혼니불]

콩엿 → [콩녇]

꽃이름 → [꼰니름]

옷입고 → [온닙꼬]

대전역 → [대전녁]

웃이 → [운니]

Sometimes an [l] is prefixed instead of [n] if a syllable follows another syllable ends with [l].

Example:

물약 → [물략]

뺄이 → [뺄리]

서울역 → [서울력]

들일 → [들릴]

*However this rule #5 does not apply in case of a word consists of two Sino-Korean morphemes(a) or if particle or copula is followed(b).

Example:

(a)

평양 → [평양] 육일 → [육일]

잉여 → [잉여]

독약 → [독약]

양약 → [양약]

만일 → [만일]

살인 → [살인]

(b)

사랑이 → [사랑이]

시골이다 → [시골이다]

Rule 6: Liquidization

A liquidization(lateralization) denotes a process which ㄴ changes to [l] either before or after ㄹ.

Example:

전라도 → [절라도]

진리 → [질리]

진로 → [질로]

만리 → [말리]

신라 → [실라]

칠년 → [칠련]

출발날 → [출발랄]

짐을내려 → [지믈래려]

설날 → [설랄]

실내 → [실래]

달나라 → [달라라]

However if ㄴ is followed by ㄹ across a word boundary, the change does not occur since ㄹ has

already changed to ㄴ word-initially.

Example:

기본이론 → [기본이론]

긴노동 → [긴노동]

Rule 7: n/l shifting

In South Korean speech except for loan words, the word-initial ㄴ and the liquid ㄹ are omitted

altogether if it precedes either [i] or [j]. Some exceptions are observed for certain native words as

well as in 녀석 or 님.

Example:

이불 ← 니불

여남 ← 녀남

연세 ← 년세

이씨 ← 리씨

이론 ← 리론

역사 ← 력사

녹색 ← 록색

논리 ← 론리

노동 ← 로동

잡록 ← 잡녹

압록강 ← 압녹강

독립문 ← 독닙문

Loan words and North Korean dialects are exempt from above rule (also known as 두음법칙 or

initial sound constraints).

Example:

뉴스 ← 뉴스

니켈 ← 니켈

라켓 ← 라켓

라면 ← 라면

렌즈 ← 렌즈

로터리 ← 로터리

Rule 8: Consonant cluster simplification

This rule describes a sound phenomena which a morpheme-final consonant cluster is simplified to a single consonant. The consonant that stays even after simplification are the first one; an

exception* would be ㄿ and ㄻ, or sometimes in case of ㄺ or ㄼ which second consonant

remains in actual pronunciation.

When ㅀ, ㄶ are followed by a lax stop ㅂ, ㄷ, ㅈ, ㄱ, the second consonant ㅎ aspirates the lax

stop in accord to Rule #3 before they are deleted.

Example:

없다 → [업따]

넋 → [넉]

핧는다 → [할른다]

앉는다 → [안는다]

*삶 → [삼]

*굶는다 → [굼는다]

*읊는다 → [읍는다]

*닭 → [닥]

*늙 → [늑] as in '늙다'

Irregular:

짧 → [짤/짭(dialectal)]

여덟 → [여덜/여덥(dialectal)]

밟 → [발/밥]

h-aspirated:

않다 → [안타]

잃고 → [일코]

많지만 → [만치만]

싫기 → [실키]

Rule 10: Tensification

Tensification of lax stop sounds ㅂ, ㄷ, ㅈ, ㄱ and fricative ㅅ occurs when it precedes ㅂ, ㄷ, or

ㄱ including those stop sounds derived from coda neutralization(Rule #2).

Example:

잡지 → [잡찌]

값이 → [갑씨]

깊다 → [깁따]

국수 → [국쑤]

몇번 → [멷뻔]

늦게 → [늗께]

닭고기 → [닥꼬기]

Rule 11: Palatalization

Alveo-dental stop sounds become palatal stops before [i], [hi], [hj] when there is an intervening affixal boundary.

Example:

해돋이 → [해도지]

같이 → [가치]

굳이 → [구지]

미닫이 → [미다지]

낱낱이 → [난나치]

받혀요 → [바쳐요]

밭이 → [바치]

닫히다 → [다치다]

However if there is no affixal boundary or if there is a word or compound boundary instead, palatalization does not occur.

Example:

디디다 → [디디다]

겉힘 → [거팀]

밭이랑 → [반니랑]

Rule 12: Decoronization (optional)

An assimilation process known as decoronization occurs in casual speech where alveo-dental and palatal consonants that are neutralized to [t] are optionally changed to the bilabial [p] before

bilabial consonant, and to velar consonant [k] before velar. This process is called decoronization because such coronal sounds are moved to the non-coronal positions in the place of articulation.

Example:

꽃밭 → [꼳빧; 꼽빧]

신문 → [신문; 심문]

갓끈 → [갇끈; 각끈]

손금 → [손끔; 송끔]

Rule 13: h-weakening (optional)

Also in casual speech, ㅎ is weakened in pronunciation and usually becomes silenced between

voiced sounds all across a word or even compound boundaries.

Example:

아홉 → [아옵]

전화 → [전-화; 저놔]

일한다 → [일-한-다; 이란다]

기후 → [기우]

결혼 → [겨론]

Rule 14: Pre-tense/aspirate reduction (optional)

In casual speech, an alveo-dental, palatal, velar stop, or a fricative may be omitted when

followed by a homorganic tensed consonant ㅉ or aspirated consonant ㅊ unless emphasis is

intended by the speaker. The alveo-dental ㄷ and the palatal ㅉ or ㅊ are treated as homorganic

due to their coronal nature.

Example:

압박 → [아(ㅂ)빡]

젖소 → [저(ㅅ)쏘]

학교 → [하(ㄱ)꾜]

꽃집 → [꼬(ㄷ)찝]

십팔 → [시(ㅂ)팔]

Also an epenthetic [s] may also be reduced in same manner.

Example:

촛불 → [촏뿔] → [초(ㅂ)뿔]

햇빛 → [핻삗] → [해(ㅂ)삗]

셋집 → [세(ㄷ)찝]

Rule 15: Vowel shortening

Long vowels are shortened if the syllable in which it occurs does not take a phrase-initial position. Which means a long vowel becomes neutralized into its corresponding short vowel in a position other than the first syllable of a phonological phrase.

Example:

눈 → [누:운]

흰 눈 → [흰눈]

사람 → [사:람]

큰 사람 → [큰사람]

놀고 → [노:올고]

뛰놀고 → [뛰놀고]

Rule 16: ㅢ monophthongization

The only partly surviving off-glide diphthong ㅢ is pronounced as [으] in the word-initial

position when it is not preceded by a consonant; otherwise pronounced as [이]. However while

older generation Korean speakers us [으] in the word-initial position, younger generation prefers

fully pronounced [의] instead due to their early exposure to English words.

Example:

의치 → [으치]

의미 → [으미]

의문 → [으문]

의견 → [으견]

의사 → [으사]

*회의 → [회이]

*희망 → [히망]

*상의 → [상이]

*동의 → [동이]

*의의 → [으이]

Rule 17: ㅖ monophthongization (optional)

In casual speech, ㅖ is sometimes pronounced as [ㅔ] when it is preceded by a consonant.

Although this process is optional in initial syllables, but they are generally obligatory in non-initial syllables.

Example:

혜택 → [헤택]

계산 → [게산]

폐 → [페]

시계 → [시게]

철폐 → [철페]

However this reduction does not occur other than in dialects if ㅖ is not preceded by a consonant

as in 예술.

Summary

So far, we have looked at some of the physiological elements responsible for making speech sounds and how some of the sounds are automatically altered in actual pronunciation in certain phonological environments.

There are a lot more cases where some of these mentioned rules does not apply - which are

categorized as non-automatic sound alternations including epenthetic s, vowel harmony, ㄹ-

deletion, consonant weakening in irregular verbs, aspirated stop reduction, [ɨ] deletion, [ɨ]/[i]

insertion for loan words, compensatory ㄹ doubling, vowel shortening, glide formation, umlaut,

initial consonant deletion, copula i reduction etc. as mentioned in Sohn(2001).

While due to the nature of Korean being "one of the most difficult language to learn" as quoted by Cheon(2000), topics covered in this report covered are just a part of essence of learning by students of Korean as second language.

Because the Korean language is not a phonetic but of morphophonemic one, without knowledge of such conventions - albeit a shortened form, a student would not be able to advance to higher levels of understanding.

As the world becoming more tightly-knitted global community, better understanding and respect for other's culture are ever more stressed to such diverse society. This is also true for the learner's of other country's language as well; being able to understand and speak correctly is considered to be a sincere form of respect to target nation's culture and its people.

Learning Korean language should not be focused on just a mechanical acquisition of techniques but should be of wholesome approach to immersion process of a learner's target language culture. In that sense we can truly say a 'whole-person education' is also realized in the area of linguistics as well.

References

Ahn, S.-C. (1998). "An Introduction to Korean Phonology." (1st Edition): 1 - 367.

Cheon, S.-Y. (2000). "Korean Phonology - Comparative Study in English and Korean Language." Studies on Korean in Community Schools Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center Technical Report, 22: 185 - 207.

Ladefoged, P. (2001). "A Course In Phonetics." (Fourth Edition): 1 - 270.

Sohn, H.-M. (2001). The Korean Language. New York, Cambridge University Press.