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Korean Romanization

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Each hangul or Korean symbol is made up of individual alphabetic (or phonemic) parts. Within a hangul symbol, the elements are read left to right, top row first, though not all elements may have a left/right or first/second row. The ㅇ symbol is pronounced only when it is on the right side or second row.

An apostrophe in the IPA represents fortis, a tensing of the vocal folds. Go to the IPA site to become familiar with this alphabet. A raised h represents aspiration (an h-like sound or "breathing" after a consonant).

Notice that several sounds are part of a k, t, p, c and s series, and that the hangul symbols are similar. M-R stands for the McCune-Reischauer system.

Consonant Table

No. Hangul IPA Yale M-R S. Korea N. Korea ISO S/N

1 ㄱ k, g k k, g k, g k g/k

2 ㅋ k^h kh k' k' kh k/kh

3 ㄲ k' kk kk kk kk gg/kk

4 ㄷ t, d t t,d t t d/t

5 ㅌ t^h th t' th th t/th

6 ㄸ t' tt tt tt tt dd/tt

7 ㅂ p, b p p, b p p b/p

8 ㅍ p^h ph p' ph ph p/ph

9 ㅃ p' pp pp pp pp bb/pp

10 ㅈ c, j c ch, j ts ts j/c

11 ㅊ c^h ch ch' tsh tsh c/ch

12 ㅉ c' cc tch tss tss jj/cc

13 ㅅ s s s s s s

14 ㅆ s' ss ss ss ss ss

15 ㅎ h h h h h h

16 ㅇ ng ng ng ng ng

17 ㄴ n n n n n n

18 ㄹ l, r l, r l, r r r l, r

19 ㅁ m m m m m m

Simple Vowel Table

No. Hangul IPA Yale M-R S. Korea N. Korea ISO

1 ㅏ a a a a a a

2 ㅓ e eo

3 ㅗ o o o o o o

4 ㅜ u wu u u u u

5 ㅡ i u eu

6 ㅣ i i i i i i

Compound Vowel Table

This is a combination of two other vowel hangul elements. Spaces indicate slots under construction for special graphic characters.

No. Hangul IPA Yale M-R S. Korea N. Korea ISO

1 ㅐ ay ae ae ai ae

2 ㅔ e ey e e e e

3 ㅚ oy oe oe oi oe

4 ㅘ ^wa wa wa wa wa wa

5 ㅝ we weo

6 ㅟ wi wi wi wi wi

7 ㅙ way wae wae wai wae

8 ㅞ ^we wey we we we we

9 ㅢ i^y uy yi

Palatized "y" Vowel Table

The presence of a 'y' (or /j/ in IPA) sound is indicated by adding an extra line to the simple vowels. Thus, ㅏ /a/ becomes ㅑ /ja/.

No. Hangul IPA Yale M-R S. Korea N. Korea ISO

1 ㅑ ^ya ya yay ya ya ya

2 ㅕ ye y y y yeo

3 ㅛ ^yo oy oe oe oi oe

4 ㅠ ^yu yu yu yu yu yu

5 ㅒ yay yae yae yai yae

6 ㅖ ^ye yey ye ye ye ye

In the 엣센스 dictionary, the order of the hangul consonants is

ㄱ,ㄲ,ㄴ,ㄷ,ㄸ,ㄹ,ㅁ,ㅂ,ㅃ,ㅅ,ㅆ,ㅇ,ㅈ,ㅉ,ㅊ,ㅋ,ㅌ,ㅍ,ㅎ

and the vowels is

ㅏ,ㅑ,ㅓ,ㅓ,ㅗ,ㅛ,ㅜ,ㅠ,ㅡ,ㅣ

Compound vowels are found immediately following their left-hand element. So after all the 가 words, the 개 words begin, with the idea that ㅐ is made up of ㅏ plus ㅣ.

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