Discussion Post #4 - Due by 5pm on Sunday, February 16 - Forum

Korean only has 14 simple consonants and 6 simple vowels. This is much less than English, but there are also with consonant clusters and diphthongs. Therefore, several English constants sounds do not exist in Korean. For example, the /θ/ and /ð/ sounds in words such as then, thirteen and clothes don’t exist. Also, the /v/ sound is produced as a /b/, and the /f/ sound leads to phone being pronounced pone.

Last week, my language partner Jannette taught me the aspirated(ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅊ) and tense constants(ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, and ㅉ). In English certain pairs of constants, like p/b, t/d, s/sh/z, and k/g, have a pronunciation that differs mostly in whether they are voiced or voiceless. However, Korean constants do not have that same difference. Instead they are different with whether they are plain, aspirated, or tense.

The difference is that the aspirated constants are pronounced with a burst of air unlike the plain consonants. For example, in English, the t should be aspirated in "tore" and unaspirated in "store". Instead, with Korean, the aspirated consonants are like the t in "tore", in that you must expel a burst of air to say them correctly.

For tense consonants, they are said with a harder, stiffer voice unlike with the plain consonants. With these consonants, diaphragm, glottis, and tongue are tense. For example, imagine you were to say "duck!" rather loudly. The hard d sound in "duck!" is like the sound made by the Korean ㄸ.

With Korean, it is also very important to know initial, medial, and final sounds. I didn’t know about this before, so I was having a hard time with some of the consonants like ㄱ because it is a g/k sound. Some words had a more of a g sound while others had more of a k sound so I was so confused. So ㄱ can be pronounced as a voiced sound like the English g or voiceless like the English k. However, to know how to pronounce it is dependent on knowing the difference between an initial, a medial, and a final consonant.

Unvoiced vs voiced examples:

가 ([ka]): initial sound is unvoiced, 다 ([ta]): initial sound is unvoiced.

바 ([ba]): initial sound is voiced, 자 ([ʨa], "cha"): initial sound is unvoiced.

Also a special letter in Korean is the ieung, ㅇ. This is a very odd letter because sometimes it makes a sound but sometimes it doesn’t. This all depends on whether it is in the initial, middle, or final position. For example, in the initial position, such as in the word 엄마 ([eomma], "mother") ㅇ is not pronounced, and the vowel becomes the initial sound. However, in the final positions, such as in 강 ([kaŋ], "river") , then ㅇ is pronounced [ŋ], similar to the ng in the English word "sing".

Since Korean really seems to rely a lot on phonetics, I think it is so important to understand and learn these differences. I have been listening to the news and radio stations on RadioGarden which has really helped me hear Korean more and with what is currently being played. I have also been using YouTube a lot to hear Korean speakers differentiate these sounds and explain them. Further, I am watching a Korean Drama called Crash Landing on You. It is also so nice when I get to meet up with Jannette because then I can hear all the sounds in person and it genuinely is so helpful being exposed to it in this way and having her help me with my pronunciation. Further, since our last class, I have been watching videos that also explain where in our mouth the sounds come from which are on the Naver Dict app I mentioned in my bi-weekly post last week. I think exposing myself to many ways in which I can hear and practice the language will be the best to learn the subtle differences present in Korean with the phonetics and phonology.

Replies

Priyanka Nehra February 16, 2020 at 9:09pm

Korean only has 14 simple consonants and 6 simple vowels. This is much less than English, but there are also with consonant clusters and diphthongs. Therefore, several English constants sounds do not exist in Korean. For example, the /θ/ and /ð/ sounds in words such as then, thirteen and clothes don’t exist. Also, the /v/ sound is produced as a /b/, and the /f/ sound leads to phone being pronounced pone.

Last week, my language partner Jannette taught me the aspirated(ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅊ) and tense constants(ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, and ㅉ). In English certain pairs of constants, like p/b, t/d, s/sh/z, and k/g, have a pronunciation that differs mostly in whether they are voiced or voiceless. However, Korean constants do not have that same difference. Instead they are different with whether they are plain, aspirated, or tense.

The difference is that the aspirated constants are pronounced with a burst of air unlike the plain consonants. For example, in English, the t should be aspirated in "tore" and unaspirated in "store". Instead, with Korean, the aspirated consonants are like the t in "tore", in that you must expel a burst of air to say them correctly.

For tense consonants, they are said with a harder, stiffer voice unlike with the plain consonants. With these consonants, diaphragm, glottis, and tongue are tense. For example, imagine you were to say "duck!" rather loudly. The hard d sound in "duck!" is like the sound made by the Korean ㄸ.

With Korean, it is also very important to know initial, medial, and final sounds. I didn’t know about this before, so I was having a hard time with some of the consonants like ㄱ because it is a g/k sound. Some words had a more of a g sound while others had more of a k sound so I was so confused. So ㄱ can be pronounced as a voiced sound like the English g or voiceless like the English k. However, to know how to pronounce it is dependent on knowing the difference between an initial, a medial, and a final consonant.

Unvoiced vs voiced examples:

가 ([ka]): initial sound is unvoiced, 다 ([ta]): initial sound is unvoiced.

바 ([ba]): initial sound is voiced, 자 ([ʨa], "cha"): initial sound is unvoiced.

Also a special letter in Korean is the ieung, ㅇ. This is a very odd letter because sometimes it makes a sound but sometimes it doesn’t. This all depends on whether it is in the initial, middle, or final position. For example, in the initial position, such as in the word 엄마 ([eomma], "mother") ㅇ is not pronounced, and the vowel becomes the initial sound. However, in the final positions, such as in 강 ([kaŋ], "river") , then ㅇ is pronounced [ŋ], similar to the ng in the English word "sing".

Since Korean really seems to rely a lot on phonetics, I think it is so important to understand and learn these differences. I have been listening to the news and radio stations on RadioGarden which has really helped me hear Korean more and with what is currently being played. I have also been using YouTube a lot to hear Korean speakers differentiate these sounds and explain them. Further, I am watching a Korean Drama called Crash Landing on You. It is also so nice when I get to meet up with Jannette because then I can hear all the sounds in person and it genuinely is so helpful being exposed to it in this way and having her help me with my pronunciation. Further, since our last class, I have been watching videos that also explain where in our mouth the sounds come from which are on the Naver Dict app I mentioned in my bi-weekly post last week. I think exposing myself to many ways in which I can hear and practice the language will be the best to learn the subtle differences present in Korean with the phonetics and phonology.

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