Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2015
In Korean compound nouns, the onset of the second element tensifies:/pjəl + picʰ/ →[pjəl.p*icʰ]. This process displays asubstantial number of exceptions. We show that in the Yanbian dialectphonological factors influence compound tensification; their influence isconfirmed by the results of a wug test. These results mostly mirrorgeneralisations informed by lexical data, but a pattern not clearly observed inthe existing lexicon also emerged (analytic bias or‘overlearning’), while phonologically implausibleinteractions were not actively incorporated(‘underlearning’). Preliminary acoustic analysis motivatesan OCP restriction against multiple laryngeally marked segments, due to theshared feature [long non-modal voicing]. But in simplex nouns the co-occurrenceof two tense onsets is overrepresented. This apparent contradiction is explainedby a directionality difference: compound tensification is progressive, asopposed to the regressive assimilation of creaky voice from the vowel of thefollowing syllable in simplex words.
A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 7thInternational Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics, HiroshimaUniversity. I thank three anonymous reviewers and the associate editorof Phonology for their detailed and insightfulcomments. I am grateful to all of the Yanbian speakers who have providedthe data for this study, especially Maylan Kwen and her family for theircontinuous and enthusiastic support of the data collection.