Korean pronunciation Lesson: Consonant Assimilation - Liquidization

안녕하세요, 여러분! 😊 Last posting, you saw one of the consonant assimilation, nasalization. Today, I'll show you the other phenomenon which is called liquidization. It may sound weird to you. It is just a technical term and you don't have to worry too much about the name. I'll show you what it is with examples, so follow me! 😄

<Table of Contents>

1. What Is Liquidization?

2. Beginner Level

3. Intermediate Level

A. Liquidization and Nasalization

B. Special Examples

4. Wrap-up

1. What Is Liquidization?

In English, 'L' and 'R' are the liquid sounds. What Korean consonant has a similar pronunciation? Yes, it is 'ㄹ'. In Korean, 'ㄹ' is the only liquid sound.

Then, what will be the 'liquidization'? Simply saying, 'ㄹ' turns a non-liquid sound into a liquid sound, 'ㄹ'. Imagine a vampire. ㄹ is a vampire consonant! ㄹ can make others like itself.

Thankfully, it doesn't affect all other consonants. It only happens when ㄹ and ㄴ meet. It is because ㄴ and ㄹ use a similar articulation place. They use similar tongue positions so it is hard to change from one to the other when you read aloud.

Try to read this word; 난로. In writing it will be 'nan-lo'. But if you actually read that aloud, you will realize how tough to do so! That is why this liquidation happens. (It didn't happen to torture you! 😂)

• Summary: The consonant 'ㄹ' will change 'ㄴ' into 'ㄹ'. This is what we call liquidization.

<Deeper information about 유음>

유 means 'flow' and 음 is 'sound' in Sino-Korean. 'ㄹ,' 'L,' and 'R' are called liquids because they have a fluid-like quality in their articulation, allowing air to flow smoothly around the tongue.

ㄹ can sound similar to both the English "L" and "R" sounds, but it's not exactly the same as either one. The exact pronunciation of ㄹ can vary depending on its position in a word and a regional accent.

When you read "달," "일" ㄹ is close to ［l］. When you say "나라," "다리" ㄹ is close to ［r]. ㄹ in "달력," "전략" is close to [ʎ]. But all those ［l, r, ʎ］ are considered just as a variation of ㄹ, not separate sounds in Korean phonology.

2. Beginner Level

It can happen forward and backward. I'll show you the examples.

1. Forward: ㄹㄴ → ㄹㄹ

The final consonant ㄹ can affect the following consonant ㄴ. Since the front ㄹ changes the behind ㄴ, we call it a forward liquidization.

Try to read aloud '칼날 kal-nal'. You will notice how difficult it is! Change n to l and read again. [kal-lal] is much easier than [kal-nal]. 칼날 means a blade, by the way.

2. Backward: ㄴㄹ → ㄹㄹ

The liquidization can happen when the ㄹ comes behind the ㄴ. That is why we say the backward liquidization for it.

Even though, we write the word in '신라 sin-la' when you actually read it out, it will be [sil-la]. 신라 was one of the dynasties in Korea. It existed from B.C. 57 to A.C. 935.

3. Practice

Try to read the words below!

• 난로 a stove

• 탄력 elasticity

• 물난리 flood damage

Here are the answers!

• 난로 [날로 nal-lo]

• 탄력 [탈력 tal-lyeok]

• 물난리 [물랄리 mul-lal-li]

↪ There are many ㄴ and ㄹ in this word. Try to use both forward and backward liquidization! The first syllable 물 (mul) ends with the final consonant ㄹ. This ㄹ will affect the first consonant ㄴ of 난 (nan). It became [물 mul-란 lan]. And then the ㄹ from the third syllable 리 (li) will also affect the front final consonant ㄴ. So even though we write this word 물난리, we will read it [물랄리 mul-lal-li]. Fun, isn't it?

3. Intermediate Level

A. Liquidization and Nasalization

Let's learn more and deeper. Remember our previous pronunciation lesson? In the previous post, you've seen the 'ㄹ' nasalization. When the plosive sounds (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ) or the nasal sounds (ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅇ) are near 'ㄹ', the 'ㄹ' turned into 'ㄴ'.

According to this rule, ㄴ can change ㄹ into ㄴ! But hang on a second, we just witnessed that ㄹ changes ㄴ into ㄹ! Right? Honestly, even to me, a native Korean, it seems an oxymoron! (Haha.) But don't worry. I can explain what happens here.

So, let me organize it first for you. ㄹ can become ㄴ. It's called nasalization. ㄴ can become ㄹ. It's called liquidization. Depending on the word, either nasalization or liquidization will be applied.

According to the 'Standard Pronunciation Rule of Hangeul' (Yes, we have the written standard rule about it.) by the National Institute of the Korean Language, which one will be applied between nasalization and liquidization is something not certain to explain. However, when the two-syllable Sino-Korean word is attached to a one-syllable Sino-Korean word, it usually follows the nasalization.

You can also understand this matter as a 'dividing.' Try to divide the word of what you try to read. If you divide 난로, it is '난' and '로'. Each syllable doesn't have a meaning anymore. In this case, the liquidization will happen. You will read this 난로 as [날로]. "

This time, we will see the word 등산로. It is a combination word of "등산" and "로". 등산 means climbing, 로 means a road. Even though we separated it, each word has a noticeable meaning. Then, the nasalization will happen and we will read this one as [등산노].

B. Special Examples

In Korean grammar lessons in a Korean school, the liquidization is taught as the principle and the nasalization words are the exceptions. The Standard Pronunciation Rule of Hangeul also provides you with some examples of these "exceptions." So, you can usually apply the liquidization and memorize these examples as specials. I'll show you those examples with meanings!

의견란 [의견난]: 의견 opinion + 란 section → feedback(comment) section

생산량 [생산냥]: 생산 production + 량 amount → production, output

결단력 [결딴녁]: 결단 decision + 력 power → determination

공권력 [공꿘녁]: 공 public + 권력 power → governmental authority

동원령 [동원녕]: 동원 mobilization + 력 order → mobilization order

상견례 [상견녜]: 상견 meet + 례 manners, courtesy → In Korea, when couples decide to marry, they open a family meeting. The parents (and family members) from both sides all gathered. This meeting is called 상견례.

횡단로 [횡단노]: 횡단 cross + 로 road

이원론 [이원논]: 이원 dual + 론 logic → dualism

입원료 [이붠뇨]: 입원 hospitalize + 료 price → hospitalization fee

구근류 [구근뉴]: 구근 bulbs + 류 types → bulbs and tubers

Do you understand that you should read 의견란 as [의견난] with nasalization, not [의결란] with a liquidization?

4. Wrap-up of this Korean pronunciation lesson

• The liquid sound 'ㄹ' can turn the close 'ㄴ' into 'ㄹ'.

• ㄹ can be located either the front or behind of ㄴ.

• However, in the most of three-syllable Sino-Korean words, nasalization will be applied instead of liquidization.
  

How was the lesson today? 어땠어요? I understand it can be difficult. Even Korean students will study these matters to prepare for the Korean SAT. So, once you understand the rules, try to memorize the words including the special ones. And, of course, if you have any questions about it, please let me know! Thanks for reading my post!