W-Vowels 1

Korean Alphabet 2

Course 2 · Chapter 5 · W-Vowels 1

ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ — Vowels Built on ㅗ

Six of the 11 compound vowels begin with a "w" sound: three are built on ㅗ (this chapter) and three on ㅜ (the next). The three here are ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ. Writing them is straightforward, because you already know the block rule from ㅢ in Chapter 4. Pronouncing ㅚ is the harder part, and the sources disagree a little, so this chapter reports what they say.

Your Three Letters — ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ

How They Are Built

• ㅘ = ㅗ + ㅏ, ㅙ = ㅗ + ㅐ, ㅚ = ㅗ + ㅣ. Wikipedia's Hangul page lists all three among the 11 compound vowels. It also says that in Middle Korean "some vowels were even pronounced as triphthongs, such as ㅙ (ㅗㅏㅣ)", which fits ㅙ as ㅗ + ㅏ + ㅣ.
• Block rule. These are the vowels the Hangul page describes when it says that "a combination [that] begins with a long horizontal stroke followed by a long vertical stroke" puts the initial consonant above the horizontal stroke. So the consonant goes on top, the ㅗ underneath it, and the vertical stroke(s) to the right. This is the same rule as for ㅢ.
• The Korean phonology page adds that semivowels such as /w/ "may follow consonants in initial position in a word" and that "Hangul orthography... transcribes them as vowels", which is why the spelling treats w as part of the vowel and not as a separate letter.

How They Sound: What the Sources Say

• ㅘ is the clearest: a quick glide from the sound of ㅗ into ㅏ (learner pages in my search agree).
• ㅙ is described by the same learner pages as the "wae" sound, in words like 왜 and 돼지. One learner site compares it to the "we" in wedding, which conflicts with the others, so I treat that comparison as unreliable.
• ㅚ. Wikipedia's Korean phonology page says Korean "used to have two additional phonemes, [ø] ㅚ and [y] ㅟ, but they are replaced by the diphthongs [we] and [ɥi] by the majority of speakers", and that the old vowel "can still be heard in the speech of some older speakers". An official romanisation note I found says ㅚ and ㅟ are basically pronounced as single vowels, but pronouncing them as diphthongs is also allowed. Another source says there is little difference between ㅚ and ㅙ in modern speech.
• Chapter 3 noted that the older /e/ and /ɛ/ merged for most South Korean speakers. Since ㅙ contains ㅐ and ㅚ is now often [we], it follows that ㅙ and ㅚ can sound alike for many speakers. That is my inference from those facts, not a statement from a source.

The Block Table

Check the shape of each block: the consonant on top, the ㅗ below it, and the vertical stroke(s) to the right. All of these are valid blocks; only some are common in words.

Look-Alike Warnings

• ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ. All three share the ㅗ at the bottom. Count the vertical strokes on the right: ㅘ has one with a tick, ㅙ has a tick and a second bar, ㅚ has a plain bar.
• ㅘ and ㅏ. ㅘ has the ㅗ underneath, which pushes the consonant to the top.
• ㅚ and ㅗ with ㅣ. ㅚ is one vowel; 오이 (cucumber) is the two vowels ㅗ and ㅣ in separate blocks.

Read It — Words With ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ

Only letters you know. Say each aloud; for ㅚ the romanisation shows the spelling, not the whole story about the sound.

Try It Yourself — 연습

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.