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Glossary

Foundational Korean: Hangeul Course Glossary

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C

Character

Character

Definition

A character is ANY symbol in a script or writing system.


Consonant

Consonant

Definition

A consonant is a phoneme that is made by using your tongue, lips, teeth, and parts of the roof of your mouth and restricting airflow to various degrees. Some examples include [m] (with your lips), [n] (with your teeth}, [f] (forcing air through your lips), [t] (the top of roof of your mouth), and so on.


Consonant Cluster

Cluster

Definition

A consonant cluser is similar to a diphthong where, rather than two vowels being combined, two consonant phonemes are. For example, the word "cluster" actually has two consonant clusters: /cl/ and /st/. In Korean, there are no such actual consonant clusters in terms of phonemes, only in spelling! But the spelling of consonant clusters (such as 읽) that only really have a single pronunciation (i.e., 읽 --> 익) can be very confusing. It is even more confusing when there is another syllable next to the cluster and then both consonants are pronounced in two different syllables. For example, 읽다 (익다) can be 읽어 which is pronounced exactly how you see - 일거.