국어 활용형 에 적용되는 모음 축약

Abstract

There are some peculiar vowel-coalescence phenomena in Korean. The examples are as follows; phi +ə(sə)[phə:(sə)], tfu +ə(sə)[so(sə)]，Sü +ə(sə)[Sö:(Sə)] etc. These can be classified as three groups according to the vowel of the verb stem When each stem-final vowel meets each ending-initial vowel ə, vowel- coalescence applies to a series of vowels ; i +ə→e:， u+ ə→o， ü+ə→Ö. This type of vowel-coalescences has been described as going through two steps in synchronic phonology. One is a glide-formation, and the other is a diphthong-reduction ; phi +ə(sə)→phyə:(sə)→phe:(sə), tfu+ə(sə)→tfwa:(sə)→tfo:(sə). But this is not the best explanation in Korean phonology. Instead, we propose a new phonological rule which puts together a stem-final vowel and ending-initial vowel directly ; phi +ə(Sə}→phe:(Sə), tfu + ə(Sə)→tfO:(Sə). By devising this rule, we can explain three different types of vowel-coalescence in a unitary way. And we can escape the problems of previous explanations.