COMPOSITE VOWELS

A composite vowel forms a big vowel as its sound forms a complex vowel in vowel harmony, i.e., a leading heavy fat vowel followed by its adjacent light tall vowel (TABLE 1). For example, ㅘ for [wɑ], a composite of ㅗ and ㅏ, is pronounced by releasing pursed lips for ㅗ quickly and opening the mouth for ㅏ as their articulations are close enough to have the same phonetic flow. Thus pronunciation efficiency and articulation economy explain the vowel harmony in labial and palatal on-glides to reduce articulatory movements.