Native speaker pronunciation question

[kutsuwamushi]

(I am specifically asking for native speakers to answer this because their intuitions will be different than non-native speakers ... but if you've been speaking Korean for years and think you can add something helpful, go ahead. Just let me know that you're a non-native speaker!)

This page is an interactive flash site for learning how to pronounce

Comments

[puppet_princess]

I've been told that, while once they were very different sounds, they have evolved into almost identical sounds that even native speakers don't really differentiate anymore. But then, I'm not native so that could just be BS they tell learners to make us feel better.

[kutsuwamushi]

I've heard a similar thing, that "e" and "ae" (in the revised romanization) used to be distinct but are in the process of merging together, especially in speakers from the Seoul area. However, on that page, I can still clearly hear one as /e/ and the other as /ɛ/, so they're still pronounced different.

But with "ye" and "yae," I don't hear a difference at all. So I'm wondering if this is just something I can't hear, if the site has an error, or if they've fully merged after a palatal approximant for the speakers who created the site.

[undeadfish]

It could be an error or it could depend on where the guy is from.

My mom is from Seoul, and there is a difference when she says "ye" and "yae". However, when my dad speaks standard Korean, many of the vowels sound identical because standard Korean isn't his native dialect (he's from Busan). Of course, it actually doesn't matter as much when you're speaking fast because pronunciations will get slurred anyway. It's more important to know the difference for writing.

[autumn_yaar]

My tutor is Korean, from Seoul and he told me several letters are basically pronounced the same. Most people pronounce them the same and will understand you. He pronounces a lot of the w- letters very very similar.

[yue_yue]

my native speaker friends also told me these letters sound the same, they are both from seoul

[thistleingrey]

I think part of it (ae/e sounding different but yae/ye not really sounding different) is that the y- slide raises the vowel slightly.

My mother's a native speaker (Chungcheong-do), and she differentiates ae/e in a way that I find possible to hear, but she says that yae/ye are no longer aurally distinct unless you're sort of self-consciously hypercorrecting. She was taught it when they did phonics in school, though! FWIW, she was born before the Korean War; she retains the vowel length distinction, which seems to be dying.

Also, thanks for an excuse for an awesomely confusing phone chat. :)