A study of common behavior in /s/-irregular and /h/-final stems of Korean

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to bring to light the common behavior of the so-called ‘/s/-irregular’ and ‘/h/-final’ stems in Korean, focusing on the similarly opaque phonological behavior of those stems when they encounter vowel-initial suffixes. It is proposed that their phonological similarity should be due to the lack of place feature in their input specifications of the stem-final consonants. The proposal follows from the discussion that combining the notion of Richness of the Base with Lexicon Optimization in optimality-theoretic framework, language learners should consult surface alternations and choose input forms that map onto outputs in the least offensive way with respect to the grammar of ranked constraints. Adopting placeless specifications as their input for both /s/-irregular and /h/-final stems, their apparent opaque alternations are adequately dealt with employing independently motivated universal constraints. The irregular status of /s/-irregular stems in Korean is still maintained but the source of their peculiar behavior turns out to be the lack of place feature just like /h/. Under the proposed ranking of constraints, it is also best explained that the stem-final /s/ in /s/-irregular stems gets their empty place node filled through the help of spreading from the following obstruent while that in /s/-regular stems is simply brought into the purview of place assimilation. I conclude that all relevant cases of /s/- and /h/-final stems can be dealt with successfully in a framework that has recourse to input specifications. (Sookmyung Women’s University)