Friday, April 04, 2025

Are 강권 (强權) and 강권 (强勸) pronounced the same?

 ANSWER: No.

This morning, I noticed a mistake in my Korean-English dictionary, in regard to the Korean words 강권 (强權), which literally means "strong (强) authority (權)," and 강권 (强勸), which literally means "strongly (强) recommend (勸)." So, what is the mistake?
ANSWER: The mistake is that the phrases 강권발동, 강권정치, and 강권주의 should be listed under 강권 (强權), not under 강권 (强勸).
Some may say, "So? What's the problem? 강권 (强權) and 강권 (强勸) are both pronounced the same, so the underlying Chinese characters would not make any difference in conversation. But the problem is that the words are NOT pronounced the same.
강권 (强權) is pronounced /강꿘/, and 강권 (强勸) is pronounced /강권/, so the phrases 강권발동, 강권정치, and 강권주의 should be pronounced /강꿘발똥/, /강꿘정치/, and /강꿘주의/, respectively.