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Vietnam and Japan does but why not Korea?

2007-02-17 04:06:26 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Travel Asia Pacific Korea

if Korea ends with a vowel, then what about China. China has vowels.

2007-02-17 04:14:44 · update #1

3 answers

because it ends with a vowel. you can't add another vowel after a vowel.

2007-02-17 04:09:45 · answer #1 · answered by warrior is a child 6 · 0 0

Your question really is "Why is the adjective for Japan, Japanese and for Vietnam, Vietnamese but for Korea, it's Korean and not Koreanese or Koreaese?".

The answer is that in English, if a country's name end with a consonant such as l, m or n, the adjective is formed by adding "ese": Japanese, Vietnamese, Nepalese. There are exceptions: Brazilian, Afghan, Pakistani, Israeli

When it ends with a vowel such as "a", the adjective is formed by adding a consonant such as an "n": Korean, Russian, Mongolian, American, Chilean, Australian. There are also exceptions: Chinese and not Chinan (weird!!), when "ian" is added and the "a" removed: Canadian and not Canadan. Also Burmese and not Burman (since Burman means member of a major ethnic group in Burma whereas Burmese is a citizen of Burma regardless of ethnicity).

The exceptions are usually for easier pronunciation, long established traditions or both.

2007-02-17 12:23:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

it ends in a vowel and it would sound very weird

2007-02-17 12:11:46 · answer #3 · answered by 100%angelic 3 · 0 0

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