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Pronunciation of batchim

6/23/2024

Hangeul is a phonemic script. However, practically, it is used as a syllabic script that combines consonants and vowels to represent a syllable.

In written Korean syllables, the first sound(초성) should be a consonant. If the first sound begins with a vowel, then a placeholder "ㅇ" should be placed in front of the vowel, such as 아, 야, 어, 여, 이 instead of ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ, or above the vowel such as 오, 요, 우, 유, 으 instead of ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ.

The pronunciation of the vowels is the same as that of the sound with the placeholder "ㅇ" attached. That is, "ㅇ" is a silent placeholder consonant. When syllables consist of "consonant + vowel + consonant," the last consonant(or final consonant) is called "Batchim."

"Batchim" is the noun form of the verb "받치다," which is "to support" in English. The final consonant or the last consonant in a written syllable looks like it supports the vowel. Korean is a language with many closed syllables ending with consonants, and the final consonant(Batchim) is the notation of the end sound of the closed syllable.

In modern Korean, there are 27 final consonants(받침). There are 14 batchims with one consonant, 홑받침(hotbatchim), such as ㄱ(목), ㄴ(손), ㄷ(달), ㄹ(말), ㅁ(몸), ㅂ(밥), ㅅ(옷), ㅇ(영), ㅈ(낮), ㅊ(꽃), ㅋ(녘), ㅌ(밭), ㅍ(앞), ㅎ(좋다), there are 11 batchims with two different consonants, 겹받침(gyeopbatchim), such as ㄳ(넋, 몫, 삯), ㄵ(앉다, 얹다), ㄶ(많다, 끊다), ㄺ(닭, 흙), ㄻ(삶, 젊다), ㄼ(넓다, 얇다), ㄽ(곬, 옰), ㄾ(핥다, 홅다), ㄿ(읊다), ㅀ(굻다, 뚫다), ㅄ(값), and there are only batchim with the same two consonants, 쌍받침(ssangbatchim), such as ㄲ(밖) and ㅆ(있다).

The pronunciation of the batchim does not always the same as the batchim letter itself. In gyeopbatchim, only one of the two is pronounced. In ssangbatchim, "ㄲ" is pronounced as "ㄱ" and "ㅆ" is pronounced as "ㄷ". In hotbatchim, 'ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ' as 'ㄷ', 'ㅋ' as 'ㄱ', 'ㅌ' as 'ㄷ', and 'ㅍ' as 'ㅂ'. Therefore, the pronunciation of the batchim is limited to seven sounds, 'ㄱ(k), ㄴ(n), ㄷ(t), ㄹ(l), ㅁ(m), ㅂ(p), ㅇ(ng).'

However, when particles, endings, and suffixes starting with vowels are attached, they are pronounced as their original sound, and in the case of 홑받침 and 쌍받침 in syllables, they are pronounced as the first sound of the next syllable, and in the case of 겹받침, only the right batchim is transferred to the first sound of the next syllable.

In addition, when the 받침 'ㅎ' is followed by the sounds 'ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅈ', it is combined with them and becomes an aspiration sound (놓고 → 노코, 닿다 → 다타, 낳자 → 나차)."

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