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～ 칠 색 밭 ～

Korean pronunciation rules

This section deals with situations in Korean, when the pronunciation does not follow the writing. All examples come from children's songs.

1. Pronunciation rules for batchim

[1.1] What is a "batchim"?

"Batchim" refers to the consonant sound within a syllable that comes after the vowel. Korean has a vowel-centered syllable structure, i.e., the syllable is always structured as

an optional consonant + a mandatory vowel + a second optional consonant.

The second optional consonant in the formula above is called batchim.

[1.2] What are the sounds of "batchim"?

Although there are many different kinds of batchim in writing, there are only 7 possible sounds in actual prounuciation. These are:

[ㅂ],[ㄷ],[ㄱ],[ㄴ],[ㅁ],[ㅇ],[ㄹ].

[1.3] Single, double and compound batchim

There are three classes of batchim in writing: single, double, and compound. Single batchim consists of only one symbol, such as ㄱ and ㅎ. Double batchim consists of two repeated symbols, such as ㄲ and ㅆ. Compound batchim consists of two different symbols, such as ㄼ and ㅄ.

[1.4] Prounuciation rules for single and double batchim

Everything related to ㅂ (namely ㅂ and ㅍ, as ㅃ never appears as batchim) is pronunced [ㅂ].

Everything related to ㄷ (namely ㄷ and ㅌ, as ㄸ never appears as batchim) is pronunced [ㄷ].

Everything related to ㄱ (namely ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ) is pronunced as [ㄱ].

ㄴ,ㅁ,ㅇ,ㄹ are pronunced as themselves.

Everything else (within the realm of single and double batchim that is) is pronunced as [ㄷ]. These are: ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅎ.

[1.5] Pronunciation rules for compound batchim

The main rule: normally, the second symbol of a compound batchim is silent. But in ㄺ, ㄻ and ㄿ, it is the first symbol that is silent. When pronuncing the non-silent symbol, rules [1.4] apply. For instance, ㄿ is prounuced [ㅂ].

The exceptions to the main rule:

i) ㄺ. according to the main rule, it is pronunced as [ㄱ]. However, when it occurs at the end of a verb or adjective stem, and the ending that comes immediately after the stem starts with ㄱ, then the ㄺ is prounuced [ㄹ], with the following ㄱ intensified to [ㄲ].

e.g.

• 맑고[맑꼬] 고운 목소리로 노래 부르는 매미야... <노래숲의 아이들>
• 맑게[말께] 개인 공원에서... <화가>
• ...붉게[불께] 물들어 타는 저녁 놀. <노을>

ii) ㄼ. According to the main rule, it is pronunced as [ㄹ]. However, there are two words where complications occur.

ii-i) The first one is 밟다 (to step on). When its stem 밟- is immediately followed by an ending that begins with a consonant, the batchim ㄼ is prounuced as [ㅂ], and the following consonant is intensified.

ii-ii) The second one is 넓다 (wide). When used by itself, the main rule is respected. However, when used in compound words, the batchim ㄼ is prounuced as [ㅂ]. For example, 넓죽하다[넙쭈카다] (wide and flat), 넓둥글다[넙뚱글다] (wide and round).

2. Liaison

[2.1] What is liaison?

When a syllable that ends with batchim is followed by another syllable that starts with a vowel, the batchim tends to "jump over" to combine with the vowel. This is called liaison.

[2.2] Rules for liaison

When there is liaison, should we still apply the batchim pronunciation rules before the "jumpover"? Curiously, it depends on the meaning of the thing that comes after. If it referrs to something concrete, then the batchim rules should be applied. Otherwise, if it only carries grammatical significance, the batchim rules should not be applied.

e.g.

• 노란 가을 들녘에는[들려케는] 양발 벌린 허수아비... <가을 들녘길>. Here 에 is an auxiliary word meaning "in" or "at". It does not refer to anything concrete. Thus, no batchim pronunciation rule is needed for the batchim ㅋ in 들녘. It jumps directly over to combine with 에.
• 방긋이[방그시] 엿보면서 웃는 저 달은... <달이 떴다>. Here 이 is an adverbial ending carrying only grammatical significance, so the ㅅ directly jumps over to combine with it.
• 나를 보고 싱긋 웃는[싱그 둔는] 우산속 요정... <우산속의 요정>. Here 웃는 has a concrete meaning, namely "smiling". So the ㅅ batchim in 싱긋 first becomes a [ㄷ], as per the batchim pronunciation rule, then jumps over to combine with 웃.

[2.3] Liaison involving a composite batchim

If a vowel comes after a composite batchim, and the batchim pronunciation rules are not in effect (as per conditions outlined in [2.2]), then only the second symbol of the batchim combines with the vowel, whereas the first symbol remians within the previous syllable. Furthermore, if the second symbol is ㅅ, it will be intensified.

e.g.

• 비바람 불어도 변함 없이[업씨] 갈매기 친구를 하며... <섬>. Here 이 is again an adverbial ending carrying only grammatical significance, so no batchim pronunciation rules. The ㅅ in 없 jumps directly over to combine with 이 with intensification.
• 자리 위에 올라앉은[올라안즌] 콩쥐 아가씨. <솔개그늘 이야기>. Here 은 is a grammatical ending that changes a verb into an adjectival construct. Hence the batchim pronunciation rules are not in effect here. The ㅈ in 앉- jumps over directly to combine with 은.
• 빛처럼 맑은[말근] 마음으로 너를 닮고[담꼬] 싶어. For 맑은, the reasoning is exactly the same as the previous example.

Here is a somewhat different example: 닭 앞에 (in front of a chicken) is pronunced [다가페]. Why? Because 앞 (front) is a word with concrete meaning, so the batchim pronunciation rules should first be applied to 닭 before the liaison occurs, which results in [닥]+앞에, that is, [다가페].

3.