Journal #4

[Wonjun Kim]

Unlike English, Korean consists of phonology that is different in terms of where the sound comes and stops. The ㄹ for example, is a sound that does not exist in English because it sounds like the mixture of an L and an R. For example, pronouncing the word 한글 is extremely difficult with just English as the ㄹ make it almost impossible to pronounce using the English alphabet. In my experience, I feel that most Korean sounds use the tongue body and the palatal with exceptions to couple letters. Korean also feels more distinct in between each letters or words. For example, in between 한 and 글, there is a point where you stop the air from coming, which prevents the connecting of the sounds. Unlike English where all the letters within a word seem connected, Korean has something like "cut, cut, cut" in between the letters. In order to achieve the perfect native sounds, I think it just require practice and listening over and over again and having your language partner fix your production of sounds. 

[Michael Marsh-Soloway]

Interesting post, Wonjun. Instead of using orthography, i.e. writing, to express a sound, try to describe the sounds using the phonetic principles brought up in class, e.g. secondary manner+ point of articulation+ primary manner. This will help you to formulate the mechanisms by which native speakers pronounce these sounds, and to replicate these phonetic segments and traits in your own speech. Also, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "cut, cut, cut." Can you provide an example of this in class?