This paper deals with variational and optional aspects of Korean umlaut within optimality theoretic perspective. Umlaut in Korean shows dialectal variation between Seoul Korean and Kyungsang Korean. Also, within Seoul Korean, umlaut is asymmetric between two different speech groups. Umlaut is preferable in Kyungsang Korean but only sparingly used in Seoul Korean. Such different behavior in umlaut from dialect to dialect is analyzed with the re-ranking of relevant constraints. Given different speech groups in Seoul Korean, the optionality of umlaut can be accounted for by reversible ranking of constraints. Among Seoul youngsters, umlaut is optional in the sense that there is a speaker internal multiplicity of outputs. In essence, asymmetric behavior in umlaut between two dialects is a result of re-ranking while speaker-internal optionality comes from reversible ranking under strict constraint adjacency.
1. Introduction
2. Umlaut as a Regressive Assimilation
3. An OT Account
4. Conclusion
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