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Initial sound rule

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The poster of March 1960 South Korean presidential election. Note that the surname Lee (hanja: 李, written as "이" in South Korea today) of Syngman Rhee and Lee Ki-poong were still printed as "리".

Initial sound rule (Korean: 두음법칙; Hanja: 頭音法則; RR: dueum beopchik ) is series of changes to hangul, the writing system for the Korean language, made in South Korea to better reflect modern Korean phonology. The changes affect syllable-initial ㄹ r and ㄴ n sounds in Sino-Korean vocabulary under certain conditions. North Korea orthography does not recognize this rule, making it one of a number of North–South differences in the Korean language.

Background

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The flag hung at the founding ceremony of the Korean People's Army in 1948 reads, 'Long live General Kim Il-sung, the leader of our people!' During the North's brief use of the initial sound rule, the Sino-Korean term "領導者" (leader) is spelled using the initial sound rule: 영도자 yeongdoja instead of ryeongdoja 령도자.

In native Korean words, ㄹ r does not occur word initially, unlike in Chinese loans. As confirmed in literature from as early the 16th century, pronunciation of these Sino-Korean words had been nativized enough that these new sounds began to be reflected. In the 17th century, the original version of Hendrick Hamel's book also records place names that reflect the rules of pronunciation, such as Naedjoo for Naju (hanja: 羅州) and Jeham for Yeongam (hanja: 靈巖). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were also cases where the surname Lee was also romanized as "Ye", "Yi", etc.

Thus, professor emeritus Ryeo Jeoung-dong (Ko: 려증동)'s claim that the initial sound rule and the final consonant notation was first organized in the Korean spelling system for elementary schools in 1912 during the Japanese colonial period is not true. Professor emeritus Ryeo Jeoung-dong of the Department of Korean Literature at Gyeongsang National University is South Korea's representative proponent of the abolition of the initial sound rule.[1][2]

In modern Korean, the South Korean standard language recognizes the initial sound rule except for a few conditions. While the North Korean standard language briefly adhered to the initial sound rule, it soon abandoned it. North Korea does not adhere to the rule today except in a few cases, and instead uses the earlier spellings of the Sino-Korean vocabulary.

Specific rules made by the National Institute of Korean Language

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The National Institute of Korean Language made three rules regarding initial sounds:

  • When the Chinese consonants "nyeo, nyo, nyu, ni" appear at the beginning of a word, they are written as "yeo, yo, yu, i" according to the rule of initial sounds.
  • When the Chinese consonants "rya, ryeo, rye, ryo, ryu, ri" appear at the beginning of a word, they are written as "ya, yeo, ye, yo, yu, i" according to the rule of initial sounds.
  • When the Chinese consonants "ra, rae, ro, roe, ru, reu" appear at the beginning of a word, they are written as "na, nae, no, noe, nu, neu" according to the rule of initial sounds.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ An impassioned speech by Professor Ryeo Jeoung-dong, an abolitionist of the initial sound rule, Shindonga, 2006-01-13 https://shindonga.donga.com/society/article/all/13/105106/4
  2. ^ Jo Song-hyeon's Issue Person <10> Ryeo Jeoung-dong, Professor Emeritus of Gyeongsang National University, The Kookje Daily News, 2012-05-13 https://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?key=20120514.22006195934
  3. ^ https://korean.go.kr/kornorms/regltn/regltnView.do?regltn_code=0001&regltn_no=180#a180

Reference articles

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Reference research theses

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