Rule Reordering in Middle Korean Phonology

Abstract

There is ample textual evidence showing that a rule that changes an intervocalic l to r, which is well-known in modern Korean, e.g., tal 'moon', but tar+i 'moon' (Nom), was also operating in Late Middle Korean. For example, a morphemic sequence kil+il 'a letter' (Acc) was written in two syllable blocks as kiSlil, I indicating that its pronunciation was most likely [kiril]. Likewise, palAl + ay 'at sea' was. written as paS1ASlay, with its pronunciation likely to have been [parAray], given the fact that the syllable-initial prevocalic l is always pronounced as [r] in Korean.