# Spelling and pronunciation of 十六



## RadkeRonnie

Hey everyone. I have a question about the reading of 十六.

My old Korean teacher pronounced 16 in a way that sounded like 십륙. 
On the sweetandtasty channel on Youtube, they pronounce it like 십육.

Is one of these spellings preferable over the other? 
Is one of these pronunciations preferable over the other?

(In case it's a regional thing, I'll try to describe my teacher's accent. You know how some people from 서울 pronounce 우 in a way that sometimes sounds similar to 으 and 오 in a way that sounds similar to 어? My teacher did the opposite. She had almost exaggerated rounding for these vowels. Also, she pronounced the word 꽃을 as 꼿을. I don't know where Professor 오 from sweetandtasty is from, but you can listen to her accent on Youtube.)


----------



## Kross

It's not a matter of preference. 십육 is the only way of spelling and pronouncing the cardinal number, 16, in Korean. But I just found out that 십륙 is used when 16 is written in Chinese characters like 十六. Hmm I think I need to do some homework on this matter.


----------



## vientito

that sound cannot even exist as 십륙 because the rule will have transformed that into 심뉵 

I bet long long time ago 륙 was actually written like that and probably somehow the south korean government decided it is better to drop those ㄹ/ㄴ

I have to admit the rules are complicated enough that I can never really remember exactly when and how it got dropped but most generally a sino-korean word that start with ㄹ/ㄴ in the first word position usually got dropped.  Sometimes they got dropped as well in second position e.g.  비율. (a definite rule exists to explain that!)

What confuses me most is that the first word rule seems to apply sometimes to family name 리->이 yet sometimes you could see 류 instead of 유.


----------



## RadkeRonnie

vientito said:


> that sound cannot even exist as 십륙 because the rule will have transformed that into 심뉵



That's what I meant. She pronounced it 심뉵, which would make sense if it were spelled 십륙. The reason I thought it might be spelled 십륙 is because, as you said, maybe a long time ago 六 was written like 륙 (which is what http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%AD says, but the page gives no citation). 

Kross, I don't understand why a word would have different readings in 한자 and 한글... I thought that 한글 was supposed to provide the reading for the 한자. I trust that you know what you're talking about, but I think it's weird. Just curiously, from where did you "just find out" that the 십륙 reading is used when 16 is written like 十六?


----------



## RadkeRonnie

I also think it's worth noting that Google text-to-speech uses the 심뉵 pronunciation.


----------



## 경상남도로 오이소

I never pronounce 六 as 륙 or 뉵. Most others don't as well.


----------



## Kross

RadkeRonnie said:


> Kross, I don't understand why a word would have different readings in 한자 and 한글... I thought that 한글 was supposed to provide the reading for the 한자. I trust that you know what you're talking about, but I think it's weird. Just curiously, from where did you "just find out" that the 십륙 reading is used when 16 is written like 十六?


 I think I found outdated or wrong information on the issue on the web. Let me clarify the ambiguity. 16 is written like '십육' and is pronouced '심뉵'.


----------



## RadkeRonnie

This is an old discussion, but I want to point out that I moved to Korea recently. When I went to the immigration office, everyone was required to wait in line by taking a ticket with a number on it. A person's number would be called on a loudspeaker, and then that person would speak with one of the staff members. For all of the numbers ending in 6 (except those ending in 06), the pre-recorded voice gave the pronunciation "심뉵." So contrary to what 경상남도로 오이소 said, and in accordance with Kross, the pronunciation sometimes is "심뉵." I think it's safe to say that both pronunciations are used, and I'm sure that I'll come to understand when each is used during my life in Korea.


----------

