Tricky Pronunciations of the Consonant ㄹ (Rieul)
In Korean, the pronunciation of ㄹ and consonants preceding or following it, such as ㄱ (기억, giyeok), ㅂ (비읍, bieup) or ㅁ, differs from the 한글 reading. Because of rules of assimilation of ㄹ to ㄴ after nasal consonants, the pronunciation of ㄱ, ㄹ, and ㅂ needs to be accounted for these changes. This post lists some of these uncommon pronunciation transformations; comprehensive pronunciation rules can be found in Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar by Jaehoon Yeon and Lucien Brown (Routledge Edition).
ㄱ followed by ㄹ → ㅇ followed by ㄴ
When a character ends either with a ㄱ sound, and the next character starts with a ㄹ sound, the ㄱ transforms into ㅇ and the ㄹ turns into ㄴ. While words with this combination are not necessarily common, it could potentially be found in compound words or complex Sino-Korean words.
The table below lists all the words that show the pattern ㄱ followed by ㄹ among the 5000 most frequent Korean words (according to A Frequency Dictionary of Korean). While the list is short, be careful of compound words that may exhibit the same pattern.
| Word | Intermediate Step | Final Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 국립 | (→ 국닙) | → 궁닙 | national |
| 독립 | (→ 독닙) | → 동닙 | independent |
| 목록 | (→ 목녹) | → 몽녹 | a list |
| 식량 | (→식냥) | →싱냥 | provisions (food) |
| 폭력 | (→폭녁) | →퐁녁 | violence |
ㅂ followed by ㄹ → ㅁ followed by ㄴ
When a character ends either with a ㅂ sound, and the next character starts with a ㄹ sound, the ㅂ transforms into ㅁ, and the ㄹ turns into ㄴ. While words with this combination are not necessarily common, this pattern could potentially be found in compound words or complex Sino-Korean words.
The table below lists all the words that show the pattern ㄱ followed by ㄹ among the 5000 most frequent Korean words (according to A Frequency Dictionary of Korean). While the list is short, be careful of compound words that may exhibit the same pattern.
| Word | Intermediate Step | Final Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 법률 | (→ 법뉼) | → 범뉼 | law, legislation |
| 압력 | (→압녁) | → 암녁 | pressure (gas) |
| 합리적 | (→합니적) | → 함니적 | reasonable, rational |
| 협력 | (→협녁) | → 혐녁 | collaboration |
ㅁ followed by ㄹ → ㅁ followed by ㄴ
When ㄹ is preceded by ㅁ, the pronunciation of ㄹ becomes ㄴ, matching the transformation from the previous paragraph.
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 금리 | → 금니 | interest rate |
| 심리 | → 심니 | psychology |
| 심리적 | → 심니적 | psychological |
| 심리학 | → 심니학 | psychology (academic subject) |
| 염려 | → 염녀 | concern, worry |
| 침략 | → 침냑 | attack |
| Less common words below | ||
| 감리 | → 감니 | construction supervision |
| 삼류 | → 삼뉴 | third-rate (~bad, not famous) |
See Also
- Most Common Korean Words Pronounced Wrong: words 1-1000, words 1001-1500, words 1501-2000.
- The review of Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar, a book covering all the pronunciation rules of modern Korean.
- The review of A Frequency Dictionary of Korean, a giant list of the 5000 most common Korean words ordered by frequency.