earticle

영어

The aim of this paper is to analyze the phonological phenomenon of the Korean vowel harmony related to the representation of empty nucleus in verbal suffixations. The theoretical grounds for the vowel harmony will be presented in terms of the element-based vowel representations and the spreading of the element. The feature of the spreading vowel harmony is element A. When verbal stems end in a consonant which, in turn, is followed by an empty nucleus, the feature of the vowel harmony spreads to vowel suffix across the empty nucleus. When verbal stems have domain internal empty nucleus, if inter-onset government is satisfied, the feature of the vowel harmony spreads to vowel suffix across the internal empty nucleus. However, if inter-onset government fails, internal empty nucleus are realized as [ɨ] and it blocks spreading of the feature of the vowel harmony to vowel suffix.(Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)