SAI-SIOS(ㅅ) : A MISTAKEN IDENTITY OF GEMINATION

Abstract

Sai-sios (or Bindungs-S) has been mistakenly viewed as an epenthetic t (orthographically s) or n that is inserted between two nouns which constitute a compound. This paper documents evidence that (i) Sai-sios is one of numerous manifestations of a gemination rule which copies the initial consonant of the second noun in a compound, that (ii) the orthographic s (Le. Sai-sios) has caused hypercorrections and spelling pronunciations which have introduced some less natural or spontaneous pronunciations, and that (jjj) all Sai-sios phenomena can be accounted for by independently motivated and well-known phonological rules_ The identity of geminated consonants(as well as the rule of gemination) is obscured (and mistakenly identified as an epenthetic consonant) by the interaction of such well-known rules as obstruent neutralization, hardening (or tensification) and nasal assimilation, lateral nasalization, and cluster reduction (or degemination). Unlike the epenthesis analysis, the gemination analysis does not require a single extra rule or ad hoc device; furthermore the latter can account for other significant data that the former fails to accommodate.