Gravity in Korean Phonology

Abstract

The term "gravity" in the title does not mean 'terrestrial gravitation' but rather a centrifugal force in the oral cavity. It is borrowed from Jakobsonian distinctive feature theory where the feature [grave] refers to phonetic quality that is best manifested in labial and velar consonants, i.e., those sounds that are made in the peripheral area of the vocal tract. The title then means 'articulatory predilection for peripherality' or tendency to articulate sounds in labial or velar regions in Korean phonology. In Kim (1971), I regarded the deletion of a consonant in the case of three-consonant abutting, e.g., eps-ta [epta], 'there is not', neks-to [nekto] 'the spirit also', celm-Ie [cemta] 'be young', etc., as being governed by what I called the principle of clC'Ge articulation; that is, of two base-final consonants, the one with narrower aperture remains and the one with wider aperture deletes. Then I added the following remark: