Difference between revisions of "Talk:자모"

Revision as of 06:51, 3 July 2010

The Korean alphabet is composed of letters called Jamo, or 자모. Each one corresponds to a particular sound, unlike in English where the sounds often vary greatly. As in every alphabetic language, its letters fall into two groups: vowels and consonants.

Basic Vowels

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are combinations of no more than two vowels. Whereas multiple vowels are normally voiced in separate syllables, each vowel composing a diphthong is voiced together within one syllable. As with consonants, these combinations are restricted to a select few cases. Complying with the rules of vowel harmony, combinations like ㅗ and ㅓ will never appear. Valid combinations include all of the letters featured in the below table: INCOMPLETE

Basic Consonants

Complex Consonants

Aspirated Consonants

Double Consonants

Double consonants are pairs of two consonants written together, seen when stressing a basic consonant's sound (such as the stressed form of ㅅ: ㅆ). Note that double consonants are a type of consonant cluster and can appear, unlike other consonant clusters, in either the beginning or end of a syllable. All valid stressed consonants are displayed below:

Consonant Clusters

Only one consonant can appear at the beginning of any syllable, logically leaving the clusters only to be written at the end. For all valid consonant clusters, see below:

Sound Exceptions

Combinations of multiple jamo can result in a change of the above listed sounds. For example, the jamo ㅗ and ㅣ each have their own sounds, but when combined as ㅚ they take on the same sound as ㅙ, losing their original. This exists as a sort of exception to the rule of each letter having only one sound. Thus, the vowels forming diphthongs should be viewed arbitrarily and largely ignored.