You know that Hangul and the Korean language are two different things, right? Hangul is the writing system used to write the Korean language, but I often see people treat the two as the same thing.
In my opinion, no matter how a word or concept started, language changes over time. When speakers begin using a word in a new way, it’s a natural process that happens everywhere.
Anyway, today I want to talk about how the sound of ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ affects other sounds around it.
Try reading this: 좋다. You should pronounce it as [조타].
How about this one: 좋고? It should be [조코].
The letter ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ is the sound created when air rubs against your throat, the cavity of the mouth or nose, which is why King Sejong drew some extra strokes on top of the circle to show that extra air and friction.
Now, what happens when ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ meets vowels or sounds like ‘ㄴ (니은),’ ‘ㄹ (리을),’ and ‘ㅁ (미음)’?
In linguistics, we call these sonorants. Basically, sounds that flow out smoothly with a natural ringing voice.
When 히읗 meets these ringing sounds, the air friction becomes so weak that it almost disappears.
For example, with the word 은행, while pronouncing it as [은행] is standard, pronouncing it as [으냉] is also very common, and native speakers will understand you without any problem at all.
However, in Korean, when ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ meets ‘ㄱ (기역),’ ‘ㄷ (디귿),’ ‘ㅂ (비읍),’ or ‘ㅈ (지읒),’ they interact with each other and combine into a stronger, burst of air sound!
- 많다 ➔ [만타]
- 많고 ➔ [만코]
- 많던 ➔ [만턴]
- 많지 ➔ [만치]
- 많아요 ➔ [마나요]
Notice the last one, 많아요? Because ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ is followed by the vowel 아, the soft friction sound of ‘ㅎ (히읗)’ gets neutralized and vanishes. That’s why you should pronounce it as [마나요], and NOT [만하요].
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