Revisiting Post-Stop Tensification and Stop Nasalization in Korean

Revisiting Post-Stop Tensification and Stop Nasalization in Korean

Ahn, Hyunkee. 2000. Revisiting Post-Stop Tensification and Stop Nasalization in Korean. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 6.1, 75-101. This paper aims to provide a phonetically grounded explanation for two Korean phonological processes: Post-Stop Tensification and Obstruent Nasalization. The main research question in this paper is what makes both phonological patterns language-particular, but phonetically natural. This paper is an attempt to answer this question in a unified way. First, based on the phonetic findings, we will incorporate two laryngeal features [stiff vocal folds] and [slack vocal folds] into the phonological treatment of Korean stops, while maintaining the two features [constricted glottis] and [spread glottis] as it is normally done in current phonological studies. Second, we will argue for the need to impose the feature [stiff vocal folds] on the neutralized unreleased stops. Finally, we will show that both phonological processes provide an optimal strategy for the laryngeal settings in an environment following a neutralized stop. Specifically, it will be discussed that, for physiological reasons, it is easier to articulate laryngeal settings that are not likely to be changed during the extended vocal tract closure made by the two combined segments in question--i.e., either two succeeding obstruents or a sequence of stop and nasal sounds. (Kyung Hee University)