Wednesday, June 18, 2008

발음 - 반모음 탈락

Semi-vowel [y] Omission - 반모음[y] 탈락, 半母音[y] 脫落

There are two semi-vowels in the Korean language. They are [w] and [y]. Word like 와 (wa) and 여 (yeo) carries the semi-vowel [w] and [y] respectively. However, the omission rule to be discussed below only involves semi-vowel [y].


Rule: When semi-vowel [y] comes after a palatal sound (ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ), it is omitted.

You probably won't know what the rule means by just reading it. Neither do I. The examples below should give a clearer explanation.

Example 1: 가르쳐요 is pronounced as [가르처요]. As the semi-vowel [y] comes after the palatal sound "ㅊ", it has to be omitted. 쳐 (ch-yeo) is hence pronounced as [처] (ch-eo].

Example 2: 예뻐졌어요 is pronounced as [예뻐저써요]. Similarly, the semi-vowel [y] comes after the palatal sound "ㅈ". As required by the rule, 졌 (j-yeot) is pronounced as [젔] (j-eot) after the semi-vowel [y] is omitted.


All my teachers pronounced 쳐요 as [처요], but for a long time, I used to think that it sounded that way because they were pronouncing 쳐요 very fast to the extent that it sounded like [처요]. I didn't feel that something was amiss as I was also not corrected when I pronounced 쳐요 as 쳐요. As I continue to hear 쳐요 being pronounced as [처요], I changed my thought. I thought, perhaps Koreans like to simplify 여 to 어 during speech, so I started to pronounce 쳐요 as [처요]. It may sound funny now, but I also started to pronounce 며 (m-yeo) as [머] (m-eo) and 력 (l-yeok) as [럭] (l-eok]. While my teacher corrected my mistakes this time round, I was left more puzzled. All this while, I wasn't aware of this semi-vowel omission rule. But when I learned about it, everything seems to fall into place nicely. I guess, the reason why this rule exists is because it is naturally easier to pronounce 처 than 쳐. To pronounce the semi-vowel [y] after "ㅊ", "ㅈ" or "ㅉ" just feel awkward even before I know about this rule.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this omission rule. I never knew it existed.

    By the way, which scene in My Lovely Samsoon did you guys act out?

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  2. 어, 그래요? 몰랐는데요.고마원요.

    ~스파이스베어~

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  3. It should have been omission rules. This rule is only one out of four. @@

    We acted the scene where Samshik brought a dog as a gift to see his prospective mother-in-law.

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  4. hey equinox!!

    placement test results came out today. i got into I2!! :D :D 좋겠다!

    my lessons are being held @ 본관, so no steep slopes for me! unlike my friends at IIE. :P

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  5. 그래? 잘 됐네!

    It is actually quite a long walk to 본관. I still like IIE because when I am so hungry that I have no strength to walk to the student's canteen during lunchtime, I can just roll down the slope. ㅋㅋㅋ

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  6. thx! :))

    본관's actually nearer for me, cause my hostel's near the back gate of KHU. :P hehe.

    wow, if u were to really roll down the slope, u might miss yr destination n land up near the playing field instead. :P ㅋㅋ

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