Shortening in the P-stem

Abstract

This paper argues that two seemingly different types of Korean shortening are actually one identical phenomenon that can be adequately accounted for in terms of the phonological stem (P-stem), which exists universally in human language. Two types of shortening have been postulated in the past because the triggers of shortening that were identified differ both phonologically and morphologically. Thus, it was impossible to collapse them into one natural class. However, the triggers that have been proposed so far are not the real triggers. Instead, a unified account of the two apparently different types of shortening can be made in which shortening is shown to occur only when a mora is incorporated into the domain of a P-stem in compensation for the loss of a mora from the morphological root (M-root). Using the framework of Optimality Theory, the domain of a P-stem is defined in terms of a conspiracy of phonological and morphological factors.