Compound tensification and laryngeal co-occurrence restrictions in Yanbian Korean

Abstract

In Korean compound nouns, the onset of the second element tensifies: /pjəl + picʰ/ → [pjəl.p*icʰ]. This process displays a substantial number of exceptions. We show that in the Yanbian dialect phonological factors influence compound tensification; their influence is confirmed by the results of a wug test. These results mostly mirror generalisations informed by lexical data, but a pattern not clearly observed in the existing lexicon also emerged (analytic bias or ‘overlearning’), while phonologically implausible interactions were not actively incorporated (‘underlearning’). Preliminary acoustic analysis motivates an OCP restriction against multiple laryngeally marked segments, due to the shared feature [long non-modal voicing]. But in simplex nouns the co-occurrence of two tense onsets is overrepresented. This apparent contradiction is explained by a directionality difference: compound tensification is progressive, as opposed to the regressive assimilation of creaky voice from the vowel of the following syllable in simplex words.