KOREAN DIPHTHONGS

Lesson

We have studied the Korean basic vowels and the sounds they make. There are 13 double-vowel symbols in Korean Hangul, which are made of either adding one more stroke to some of the basic vowel symbols or combining some basic vowel symbols together. For instance, the following six double-vowel symbols are results of adding one more stroke (adding the y sound) to the first six vowel symbols above (e.g., adding a stroke to ㅏ “a,” you get ㅑ “ya”). There are two classes of diphthongs, the Y-diphthongs and the W-diphthongs.

Y-DIPHTHONGS

ㅑ  is pronounced   [ya]          (as the ‘ya’ in  yard)

ㅕ  is pronounced   [yeo]        (as the ‘yo’ in yonder)

ㅛ  is pronounced   [yo]          (as the ‘yo’ in yoga)

ㅠ  is pronounced   [yu]          (as the ‘yu’ in you)

ㅖ  is pronounced  [yeh]          (as in yea)

ㅒ  is pronounced    [ye]         (as the ‘ye’ in yes)

W-DIPHTHONGS

ㅙ is pronounced [we]    (as the ‘we’ in wet)

ㅟ is pronounced [wi]   (as in we are the world)

ㅘ is pronounced    [wa]    (as in wine)

ㅝ is pronounced  [wo]   (as in wonder)

ㅞ is pronounced [wae]   (as in wait)

ㅚ is pronounced [whe]   (as in when)

ㅢ is pronounced  [ui]   (as in squeeze).

Note:

1.    Theㅢ diphthong sounds u as in pull, followed by ee as in feet, but said quickly as one sound.

2.    Six double-vowel symbolsㅚ, ㅞ, ㅝ, ㅟ, ㅙandㅘare made up of combining some of the basic vowel symbols together (e.g., combining “o” and “a” produces “wa”). These double-vowel symbols have the w sound.

VIDEOS/AUDIO FILES

See YouTube video files below

HANGEUL VERSUS NIGERIAN LANGUAGE GUIDE.

Let us identify some common Nigerian words that has the same sound made in these diphthongs.

VOWEL SCRIPT	KOREAN EXAMPLE	NIGERIAN EXAMPLE
ㅑ	야!     / ya/   meaning  "hey"	Yard, Yaro,
ㅕ	안녕    /Anyeong/  meaning hello/hi	Yonder
ㅛ	누구세요?   /Nuguseyo?/  Meaning who is this?	Yoga, Uyo (Capital ok akwa-ibom)
ㅠ	우유    /u-yu/  meaning   "milk"	You,
ㅖ	예    /ye/   meaning  "yes"	Yea, Yale
ㅒ	배  /pae/  meaning "boat"	Yes
ㅙ	왜?   /wae/  meaning  "why?"	Wet,Swell,
ㅟ	위    /wi/  meaning  above	We,Wing, Twist
ㅘ	봐!  /bwa!/ meaning   Look!	Kwara, Wara (cheese)
ㅝ	뭐?  /Mwŏ?/  meaning  "what?"	Wonder
ㅞ	궤도    /kwe-do/    "orbit"	Wait,
ㅚ	죄    /choe/  "sin"	Way
ㅢ	의   /ŭi/  meaning  "righteousness"	Squeeze,

The attentive reader will notice the following:

·        There are no combinations such as yi, yeu, wu, wo and weu.

These are not allowed in Korean.

·        There are two versions of we: 웨 and 외. These come from two different historical sources. In modern Korean, however, they are generally pronounced identically (along with 왜).

VOCABULARY FOR THIS LESSON

Let’s look at the vocabulary for this lesson

VOCABULARY	ROMANIZATION	MEANING
안녕	Annyeong	Hello/Hi
누구세요?	Nuguseyo?	Who is this
예	Ye	"yes"
봐!	Bwa!	Look!
의	Ŭi	"righteousness"
죄	Choe	"sin"
궤도	kwe-do	"orbit"
뭐?	Mwŏ?	"what?"
위	Wi	Above
왜?	wae ?	"why?"
배	Pae	"boat"
우유	u-yu	"milk"
야!	Ya	"hey"