Middle Korean W-, z-, and t/l-Verb Stems

Abstract

The Middle Koreanl (MK) W-, z-, and t/l-verb stems are segmentally irregular. When a following enclitic begins with a vowel, these stems have as their final consonant W, z, or l, respectively, but when the enclitic begins with a consonant, they end in p, s, or t. In this paper it will be shown that these stems have a canonical shape which is different from stems ending in /p,s,t/, and therefore that the consonants W, z, and t/l are here in complementary distribution with /p,s,t/.