1. Nasalization (비음화)
When the syllable-final consonant of the first syllable
ends in the consonants 'ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ, ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ' and the
syllable-initial consonant of the second syllable begins with 'ㄴ, ㅁ', the
preceding consonants must be changed according to the following rule:
ㄱ,
ㅋ, ㄲ -> [ㅇ] 'ng'
ㅂ, ㅍ -> [ㅁ] 'm'
ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ-> [ㄴ] 'n'
ex. 한국말 -> [한궁말], 박물관 -> [방물관], 십만 -> [심만], 재미있는 -> [재미인는],
끝나다 -> [끝나다]
2. Lateralization (유음화)
When the consonant 'ㄹ' meets 'ㄴ'
(in either a 'ㄴㄹ' or 'ㄹㄴ' combination), 'ㄴ' is changed into 'ㄹ' sound.
ex. 연락 -> [열락], 난로 -> [날로], 전라도 -> [절라도](from 서강 한국어 Korean for Non-Native Speakers 1A p.11-12)
And that's why Korean read 'good morning' as 'gun moning', and 'Henry' becomes 'Helli'.
good morning -> [굳모닝] -> [군모닝]
Henry -> [헨리] -> [헬리]
Korean phonology is not only useful in learning Korean, but also in analyzing errors of Korean speakers in English pronunciation.
PS. Have you ever wondered why '감사합니다' is pronounced as [감사함니다] while the actual spelling is 'kamsahabnida'? The rule of Nasalization explains the reason.
The same for 청량리, 왕십리, 종로, 대학로, 강릉, etc.
And have you never wondered why '전라도' is written as 'Jeollado' in English while its actual spelling is 'jeonr(l)ado'? The rule of Lateralization is the key for understanding the reason.
At the end of today's class, after I have explained the rules of Nasalization and Literalization, Mr. M(my student) asked me the following question:
"How do Korean kids learn this at school?"
My answer:
"Actually we don't learn this. We just know it. But we have to be careful in writing. Thus dictation is important to practice those rules in spelling."
I once thought that the Korean pronunciation is very very easy - you just need to memorize the vowels and consonants and then everything is ok, just read it according to its sound. (Unlike the English vocabularies, Korean is just simple and easy - that was what I had in mind before.)
After studying KFL, I must say that the pronunciation rules and phonological changes in Korean are so complicated that sometimes even native Koreans are not sure about the correct pronunciation.
The more I study about it, it's something like a 'rediscovery' of my own language. And probably that's the joy of studying one's own language.
6 comments:
That's really helpful! Keep on writing more about korean language for foreigners.
I'd like to do that, but the problem is it's toooooooo difficult to explain all those stuffs about grammar and phonology in ENGLISH.
Just imagine you have to give your lecture for beginners in German language all in English or even Korean, with all the explanations about pronunciation and grammar and so on.
^^;;
Thanks so much! Really helpful!
wait ah......err...."select all"...right click....."copy".....open microsoft word....right click...."paste".......
Ah....done! ^^
Cheongnyangni....that super confusing station..I always got lost there. Always took the WRONG train.
Anyway.
Thanks for the tips.
super confusing ㅋㅋㅋ yeah probably:)
I also noted that when the consonant 'ㄹ' meets consonant 'ㅂ,ㅈ,ㄷ,ㄱ,ㅅ' they will be read as if they are double consonants like "ㅃ,ㅉ,ㄸ,ㄲ,ㅆ". Example 알고 싶어 is pronounced as 알꼬 싶어. I wonder if this is this correct? 박선생님 가르칠 수 있으면 좋겠어요 :)
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