I had a pronounciation question.
I have noticed that the honorific “요” is pronounced by both the male and female voices as a “여”.
I was wondering if this was the standard way of pronouncing it?
I would consider the 여 pronunciation to be more feminine and more popular among girls and younger women. If you listen again, you’ll hear that the guy only says it like 여 for the first line, but after that it is 요
The standard way of pronouncing it would be 요, but 여 sounds cuter and is therefore used more by certain females.
Thanks for the response Alex.
I do see the differential… but upon listening again, both the guy and girl are still saying “여”… the guy does speak slightly closer to the 요 form… and the girl does seem to exaggerate the sound a bit more.
Could this be due to rapid speech?
I do notice that forcing myself to say “요” does slow down the overall pace of my speech… because it is a rather strong dipthong compared to “여”… and it forces more curling of the lips to say it as it is phonetically written.
Would you say the male form strongly follows the pronounciation standard? If so, I would like to mimic his usage.
Thanks again for your input.
That’s a good point - it could certainly be influenced by the fact that, as you mention, 여 is easier to pronounce quickly.
From what I’ve seen, it is primarily pronounced 여 by younger females (or older females trying to sound cute or young), but the general and standard pronunciation is 요. Also, it is interesting to note that 여 seems to often be drawn out a bit longer to emphasize this particular pronunciation, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a matter of saving time in most cases.
For what it’s worth, I notice that when I’m around female friends a lot my pronunciation tends to shift slightly towards how most of them speak, but when I’m with my guy friends I often shift towards what some may call a more masculine tone and pronunciation.
안녕하세요. 체까 저음이 lingq 있어요, 그럼 지금 질문 있어요. what is meaning of 누구세요 and 누구것인가요? Thanks you
@bunsophat - 누구세요 = who is it? / 누구 것인가요? = whose is this?
I didnt listen to the audio the OP is talking about … Alex is usually right about all those things =).
Just wanted to say that also, alot of girls tend to say “유” and kinda pronounce it longer and nasally to make it sound “cute” …
not that it has anything to do with the OP’s question. Just an observation…
Oh, didn’t notice the previous posts at all! Hahaha the topic is so interesting.
To me, pronouncing -요 as -여 has nothing to do with trying to sound to cute or something in that manner. -요 sound needs more elaboration, so to speak, than 여. I sometimes notice some Koreans pronounce -여 excessively, mostly among girls, and in that case there is no doubt they are doing it with whatever intention they have(it might be the case that they are trying to make the atmosphere lighter by being playful with their speech, or, it’s just the way they speak naturally.)
If I am not really paying attention to my speech, my -요 sound can easily become -여. ‘-요’ is definitely the standard and formal (and rigid) than ‘여’. It might differ from case to case but -여 is more colloquial version of saying ‘-요’. Definitely more casual 
Although in written form I would never use it, if not playing.
@keroro - To me that sounds quite unusual. -유(ending) is more like dialect, so if someone who uses standard language says something with -유, most of the time It’s a little play(and there is more to it than sounding ‘cute’ I think) on their speech when they are with close friends or family members.
@monyou… no clue… just my observation… I notice alot of girls saying " 우" or “유” instead of 오 / 요 … especially young girls or flirting girls or Young girls working in stores/ banks… maybe its just me…
My brother in law’s ( hes korean) his Fiancee talks like this all the time… I never hear her say a standard “요” … its definietely not a “여” …
Its not dialiect that I’m hearing because I live in Daejeon and Brother in laws wife is from seoul… and I hear it on TV all the time too…
Its not like i hear EVERY GIRL talking like this. Just Some ( maybe jsut the ones flirting or the younger ones trying to be cute)
Oh well =)
edit:
@keroro - Hmm…I really wonder what they say with -우 and -유? Also in TV too?? I am so lost, can’t seem to think of any examples O.o