Tak, Jin-Young

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APERTURE THEORY JN KOREAN CODA NEUTRALIZATION 1 Introduction Jin-young Tak Indiana Umvers1ty One of the most controversial problems m Korean consonantal phonology 1s Coda Neutrahzabon (henceforth CN) The three-way contrast of obstruents-plam, tense, and aspirated--is neutrahzed to a homorgaruc plam stop m coda position, as seen m (la) Also, the syllable final affhcates and contlnuants are neutrahzed mto plam stops, as seen m (lb) and (le), respecuvely Relevant data are drawn from Lee (1992) (1) a Neutrahzauon of stops ip -> Ip 'mouth' p'op' -> p'op 'to elect' ap!i -> ap 'front' p'dt -> p'dt 'to expand' kath -> kat 'to be ahke' k.tt' -> ht 'end' kuk -> kuk 'soup' pok' -> pok 'to fry' b pudkh Neutrabzauon of affncates -> pudk 'kitchen' nae -> nat 'day' nach -> nat 'face' c Neutrahzabon offncauves kas -> kat 'a kmd of plant' Cdp·a.r'(-ta) -> capat(-ta) 'to catch (past)' noh -> not 'to let go of The specific neutralizations are shown m (2) (2) a /pl, Ip'/, I~/ _. [p] b /t/, /t'/, 1th/ ~ Isl, ls'/ [t] /cl, le'/, /ch/ /hi c /kl, /k'/, Jkh/ _. [k] Smular patterns are found m Thw. (Lombardi 1991) In Thai, the obstruents that can appear in coda pos1tlon are plai.n stops However, unhke Korean thexe exists the only two-way contrast m obstruent consonants plam and aspirated Besides Tba1, m Klamath, vo1ced, voiceless, and glottahzed obstruents are neutralJzed mto voiceless stops when preceding another stop (Clements 1985) However, few language probably show such a full range of neutrabzat1on as Korean This is extremely comphcated to analyze m a umfonn way, none of the previous researchers have provided a smgle rule that could cover the full range of Korean CN data, shown m (I) However, followmg Aperture Theory developed by Stena.de (1992, 1993), I will prov1de a stmple rule to account for CN m Korean--dehnkmg an open aperture node, Ar or Amax The more mteresung argument proposed m tlus study 1s that CN does not apply only to obstruents, but also to 444 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutrahzatton sonorants It has been argued by many Korean phonologists that only coda obstroents are subject to CN. as seen m (1) However, I w1JI give evidence that the Aperture Theory supports the assumpt1an that CN applies to all the coda consonants Thts paper JS orgaruzed as follows I wtll review some of the previous studies 1n 2 I wdl introduce Aperture Theory. based on Stenade's (1992, 1993) proposal tn 3 Then, m 4, I will offer a new analysis of CN that incorporates Aperture Theory 2 Previous Studies 2 1 A Proposal W1thm the Framework of Standard Generative Phonology W1thm the framework of Linear Generabve Phonology, Chung (1980 70) treats CN as the combmabon of two separate rules coronal neub'alIZatlon and laryngeal neutrahzabon This 1s illustrated m (3) (3) a. Coronal obstruents become [t] syllable-finally C rt-antenor J / [+coronal] - l-contmuant ---$ b Tense and aspirated obstrocnts become lax syllable-finally [ [+tc';nse] J ___.. ----., [+lax] / __ $ [ +aspuated] There are a couple of problems with thts proposal First, this proposal falls to account for why all coronal obstruents are neutraltzed mto [t], despite differences m antenonty or contmuancy Second, as mentioned by Kim (1987), tlus proposal does not expJam why tense and aspirated consonants become homorgamc plam obstruents instead of neub'al1zmg to either tense or aspirated consonants Smee Chung's proposal JS not convmcmg, many other Korean phonologists, such as Kim (1987). Kim (1990). Cho (1991), and Lee (1992), analyze NC within the theory of Underspeclfication Several proposals within this framework are discussed m the next section 2 2 Proposals W1thtn the Framework of Underspec1ficatton In order to ebmmate problems raised wtthm the analysis m Standard Generative Phonology, Ktm ( 1987) argues that CN can be treated as a smgle process of delmkmg the terminal features of a syllable-fmal obstruent [+spread glotus], [+constncted glottis], [+continuant], and [-antenor] (Ktm 1987) This 1s depicted m (4) 1 (4) C]., I Root Laryn~aryngeal ~ I Manner Place I I 445 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutrabzat1on Even though th.ls proposal accounts for the problems raised by Chung ( 1980), it fads to explam why only obstruents, not sonorant consonants, undergo CN Moreover, Kim (1987) excludes the case m which the syllable final /hi is realized as [t] noh -> not 'to let go or Later, Lee (1992) proposes that CN should be treated as the rule that delmks the laryngeal features [+spread glottis] and [+constncted glottis], and the manner feature [+contmuant] In her proposal, sbe discusses the neutralization of the syllable final lhl m such a way that smce the delmkmg of [+spread glottis] results in no features under the Root Node, the most unspecified consonant /ti is realized as the surface fonn However, Lee (1992) does not mention why palatals become coronals, because changing palatals to coronals results from debnkmg [·antenor], as discussed m Kim (1987) Cho (1990), followmg Sohn (1987), has proposed that CN is a smgle rule that delmks three separate features the laryngeal feature nodes, [+contmuant] and [-antenor} 2 However, both proposals of Sohn ( 1987) and Cho ( 1990), cannot explam why these three separate features, but not other features, are delmked. In other words, they fail to account for whether there is any common property that these three features share Most of studies on Korean CN deal with the issue of delmkmg with at least two separate operations on the feature geometnc tree, one of which deletes the laryngeal features and the other of which deletes the feature [conunuant] In favor of a single rule for Korean CN, Kim (1990) groups together the lazyngeal features [spread glottis] .md [constncted glottis] along with [contmuant] under the Lazyngeal-conunuant Node Tlus is shown m (5) (5) Root ~ Place Lazyngeal-contmuant ~[contmuant] Laryngeal Gaven (5), he clauns that Korean CN ts the rule of debnk.mg the Laryngeal-contmuant Node Even though this approach seems to account for Korean CN with a smgle rule, 1t has a shortconung m dealmg w1th the feature [contmuant] The issue of the locabon [contmuant] m the feature geometnc tree has been controversial m the phonological literature In Korean, there does not appear to be other motivation to assume that [contmuant] should be grouped with other lazyngeal features Due to the fact that none of the previous studies can provide any umfonn solutmn of Korean CN, m the next section I will discuss m more detrul tlus issue m the framework of Aperture Theory and Underspec1ficauon I contend that Korean CN can be best mterpreted as delmkmg any open aperture node of a coda consonant no matter whether they are obstruents or sonorants 3 Aperture Theory Smee the previous studies fail to take Korean CN mto account m a umform way and also fail to mclude all data with respect to CN, I will propose a new version of th.ls phenomenon, followmg Stenade (1992, 1993), wlth the assumption that Korean syllable coda consonants are never released This assumption 1s also discussed by Kim-Renaud (1986), Cho (1990), and Iverson & Sohn (1994) With the development of segment structure, revealed by Anderson (1976), 1t has been widely accepted that there are some segments which internally have two values for a feature, such 446 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutralization segments are called contour segments The followmg figure shows the internal representation of the prenasal /mb/ that must be phonolog1cally analyzed as being a monosegment, as m Sagey (1986) (6) /mb/ [+nasal] [-nasal] ~ Root I Labial TI11s illustrates that flllb/ 1s a monosegment winch 1s hnked to a smgle root node, however, 1t 1s a contour smce 1t contains two sequenced values for the feature [nasal] Further, Stenade (1992), fo]]owmg Anderson (1976), uses the tenn "aperture nodes"--A0 (full closure), Ar (mtermed1ate aperture), and Amax (maximal apenure)--to explam the mtegnty of contour segments Based on Stenade (1992), I assume that segments may compnse more than one of the mtrasegmental values winch she calls apenure pos1t1ons These aperture positions are demonstrated with vanous pmrutive degrees of constnction w1thm the vocal tract The definitions are based on Stenade (1992, 1993) (7) Aperture poSttion Types Ao = closure (1 e. zero aperture) Amax = maxunal aperture Ar = intermediate aperture generating turbulent airflow Given these defimt1ons, the representations of released stops, affncates, approx1mants, and fncatlves are obtained m (Sa-d), respectively (8) a Released stops AoAmax b Affricates AoAr c Approx1mants Amax d FncatJ.ves Ar In Stenade's proposal, contour segments mclude released stops, aspirated stops, glottahzed stops, and affncates Plam released stops are defined as a stop phase--A0--followed by abrupt maxunal release-Amax· In the case of affricates, they are analyzed as a noncontmuant node Ao followed by fncat1ve release Ar Aspirated and glottahzed consonants are represented as the sequence of Ao followed by Amax associated to [spread glotns] and [constncted glottis], respectively Given this assumption. the representations for plam released stops, affncates, aspirated stops, and glottahzed stops are 111ustrated m (9a), (9b), (9c), and (9d), respectively 3 447 1996MALC Tak (9) a Plain released stops AoAmax Pl Jee c Aspirated stops Laryngeal [spread glottis] I Ao Amax I Place Korean Coda Neutralization b Affncates Ao Ar Pl~e d Glottalized stops Laryngeal [constricted glottls] I ~max Place By contrast, approximants and fncattves are regarded as having a smgle aperture node, Amax or Ac 11us IS dlustrated m ( 10) (10) a Approx1mants b Fncauves Ar Pt!e I have shown how segments are represented m the framework of Aperture Theory Given these representations, m the next secuon I will reanalyze CN m Korean 4 Proposed Analysis of Coda Neutralization As indicated m section l, m Korean all the syllable-coda labial obstruents are neutralized mto the unrelew.ed [pj, all the coronals mto the unreleased [t'], regardless of antenonty and contmuancy, and all the dorsals mto the unreleased [k'] However, most Korean phonologists have ignored the fact that the sonorant consonants may not be released m syllable-coda position Kim-Renaund (1986), Baek (1991), and Iverson & Sohn (1994) introduce the unreleased conchtaon of sonorant consonants m coda position In their view, the nasal /n/ as produced without release of the oral closure (n '] For example, as discussed m Iverson & Sohn ( 1994 ), the /n/ m the Engbsh word can is produced by a Korean spreaker with oral contact maintained throughout with no release of the oral closure as [kO!n '] As a consequence, Korean speakers learmng Engbsh as a second language have difficulty m dlfferenll.allng 1t from can't [kart}, since these two words emerge as homophones Moreover, oral contact may be maintained throughout the art1culatton of the lateral /JI m Korean m coda pos1uon This is shown m (11) (11) Unreleased lateral m coda pos1t1on a /mall [mal'] *[mal] b /puV [puf) *[pul] 'language' 'fire' Therefore. CN should be extended to obstruents as well as to sonorants As a consequence, 1n tlus study, I propose CN as a simple rule-dehnking an open aperture node. Aror Amax At first glance, though, dehnkmg the second feature under the Apenure Node of a contour segment seems to be the right rule for CN This 1s shown m ( 12). 448 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutrabzatton (12) Coda-neutraltzatlon m Korean Unreleased stops may be simply represented as closures without any open aperture nodes This ts shown m (13) ( 13) Unreleased stop Pll: The CN process of stops, dehnkmg Amax. is illustrated m (14) (14) Coda Neutrahzatlon of Stops Root1a /')c... Ao Amax I Place Root1a I Ao I Place Here, a further explanation for the affncates 1s required In Korean, there 1s no palatal stop comparable to a palatal affncate le/ Therefore, delmkmg Ar tnggers delmkmg the [palatal] feature attached under the Coronal Node. I assume this 1s a language-specific rcabzauon by means of Structure Preservation (Kiparsky 1985) This 1s shown m (15) (15) Coda Neutralization of Affncates Rootla ~ Ao Ar ~ Place I Coronal I [palatal) Root1a I lo Place However, in Korean, Isl and /hi which Just have a smgle Aperture Node are also subject to CN They are then realized as [t] The representations of Isl and /hi are mtroduced w1thm Stenade's framework, as m (16) 449 1996MALC Tak (16) Coda Neutral1zatlon ofFncatives a /hi b /s/ Root1a Rootla I I Amax Ar I I [spread glottis] Place Korean Coda Neutralization c [f] Root1a I Ao I Place Smee these two are not contour segments. dehnkmg their second feature under the Aperture Node 1s not possible as the expression of a single rule for CN Therefore, I suggest a new vemon of CN 1n which any open aperture node-Af or Amax-IS delmked In cases of fncattves, after debnkmg the open aperture node Af, they are realized as unreleased stops, represented as Ao by default They are then reahzed as [t], given that this ts the unmarked consonant.4 With respect to the lateral /JI, I assume that m Korean, a smgle feature [lateral] 1s linked to Ao followed by Amax which represents release Then, delmkmg of Amax automatically results 10 an unreleased lateral as m ( 17b) This is pictured m ( 17) ( 17) Coda Neutrabzat1on of a Lateral a. Released Lateral Root1a ~ Ao Amax I Spontaneous Voice [lateral] b Unreleased Lateral Rootla I Ao I Spontaneous Vo1ce [lateral] As seen m ( 12)-(17), the CN process may be fonnaltzed as the elunmauon of the open Aperture release phase Thts can best account for CN m the umform way to cover all cases, obstruents as well as sonorants S Conclusion In this paper, I have accounted for CN m Korean m a umform way by reference to Underspecdicat1on and Aperture Theory I have mamtamed that Korean consonants, both obstruents and sonorants, are not released m coda poSJt1on In hght of this, I propose that CN m Korean ts best accounted for m a very snnple way--delmkmg the open aperture release phase m coda pOSJbon NOTE 1 Kim ( 1987) adopts the Feature Geometry based on Clements ( 1985) and Sagey (1986) 2Sohn (1987) mvest1gates CN focusing on its complicated mteractton with the other aspects of Korean consonantal phonology, such as resyllabdicauon and Nasal Assumlat1on However, here I wdl not consider other phonological phenomena wruch are not crucially relevant to the topic of this paper 450 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutrahzatton 3In Stenade's (1992, 1993) framework, nasals are also treated as contour segments, doclong [nasal] to both Ao and Amax 40ne piece of evidence that the unmarlced consonant 1s the coronal m Korean IS based on co-compoundmg of nouns It 1s normally accepted that an empty C-slot 1s inserted between compounded words, and the empty C-slot 1s real11.ed m vanous ways depending on the context For example, the m1bal obstruent of the nght element of a compound 1S tensed as m (1), and the segment It/ or the nasal In/ or Im/ is mserted between two elements of a compound as m (11) and (m), respecuvely (data come from Han 1992) (1) cam 'sleep' + cah 'place' [camc'al1] 'sleepmg place' cho 'candle' + pul 'light' [chop'u 1] 'candlelight' (11) u 'upper' + os 'clothes' [utot] 'upper clothes' (111) 1 'teeth' + mom 'body' [munom] 'gum' kho 'nose' + nal 'hne' [khonnal] 'nose hne' After mserung an empty C-slot between two elements of a compound, the place feature of the followmg consonant spreads to the empty C-stot (In Korean, the tense consonants are regarded as a gellllnate ) The data {u) show that when there 1s no followmg consonant, the empty C-slot is realized as [tJ, suggestmg that it is the least marked consonant m Korean REFERENCES Anderson, Stephen 1976 Nasal consonants and the mtemal structure of segments Lg 52 326-44 Baek, Eung-Jm 1991 Unreleasmg m Korean A phonetic explanation Harvard studies 10 Korean lmgu1sucs 4 29-36 Cho, Young-Mee 1990 Parameters of consonantal ass1mtlation Doctoral dissertation, Stanford Uruvers1ty Chung, Kook 1980 NeutralIZaUon m Korean A functional view Doctoral dissertation, Umvers1ty of Texas Clements, George 1985 The geometry of phonolog1cal features Phonology Yearbook 2 225-52. Han, Jung-Im 1992 On the Korean tensed consonants and tens1ficat1on CLS 28 206-23 Iverson, Gregory, and Hyang-Sook Sohn 1994 Liquid representauon m Korean Theoretical 1ssues in Korean hngu1st1cs ed by Kim-Renaud, Young-Key, 77-100 Klm, Hee-Soeb 1990 The manner features m phonological representation Doctoral d1Ssertauon, Indiana Uruvers1ty K.tm, Kee-Ho 1987 The phonolog1cal representation of d1stincuve features Korean consonantal phonology Doctoral d1ssertat1on, Umvers1ty ofiowa. Kim-Renaud, Young-Key 1986 Studies m Korean lmgu1st1cs Seoul, Korea Hanshm Pubhslung Company K.tparsky, Paul 1985 Some consequences of lexical phonology Phonology Yearbook 2 85-138 Lee, Jm-Seong 1992 Phonology and sound symbolism of Korean 1deophones Doctoral dtssertauon, Indiana Umvers1ty Lombardi, Lmda 1991 Largyneal features and laryngeal neutralization Doctoral dissertation, Umverstty of Massachusetts Sagey, Elizabeth 1986 The representauon of feature and relabons m autosegmental phonology Doctoral dissertation, MIT 451 1996MALC Tak Korean Coda Neutralization Sohn, Hyang-Sook 1987 Underspecification m Korean phonology Doctoral d1ssertat1on, Uruversity of 11lmo1s Stenade, Donca 1992 Segments, contour, and cluster Reduced version m Proceedmgs of the 15th lntemauonal Congress of Lmgu1st1cs 1993 Closure, release, and nasal contours Phonetics and phonology nasal, nasahzat1on, and the velum S 401-70 452 

Aperture Theory in Korean Coda Neutralization

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Aperture Theory in Korean Coda Neutralization

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