earticle

영어

The paper presents an OT-based analysis of Korean nominal suffixes and argues that the so-called local conjunction (LC), which is a conjoined constraint consisting of two independent constraints, is necessary to account for some morphological puzzle. More specifically, in Korean, epenthesis is phonologically enforced to drive the different allomorphs of some nominal suffixes (e.g., accusative suffixes [ɨl] and [lɨl]). However, this does not hold for all other nominal suffixes (e.g. locative suffix [e], which do not have any allomorphs. Under the current OT framework, the epenthetic behavior of Korean nominal morphology cannot provide the consistent language-specific ranking between faithfulness (e.g., DEP-IO) and markedness constraints (e.g., ONSET, NO CODA). In order to solve this ranking conflict of the constraints, I propose here a locally conjoined (i.e., LC) constraint, [ONSET & NO Coda]δ. The LC can solve the morphological puzzle well without assuming a highly complicated constraint. In addition, I further discuss the theoretical and empirical properties of the proposed LC. The suggested LC, [ONSET & NO Coda]δ, is strictly restricted to a local domain (i.e., a syllable boundary). This is on a par with the universal condition of LC. Furthermore, [ONSET & NO Coda]δ is attested in other languages such as Italian or Dutch (Tranel & del Gobbo 2000). Therefore, LC is necessary for the analysis of some morphological puzzles.