In Korean compound nouns, the onset of the second element tensifies: /pjəl + picʰ/ → [pjəl.p*icʰ]. This process displays a substantial number of exceptions. We show that in the Yanbian dialect phonological factors influence compound tensification; their influence is confirmed by the results of a wug test. These results mostly mirror generalisations informed by lexical data, but a pattern not clearly observed in the existing lexicon also emerged (analytic bias or ‘overlearning’), while phonologically implausible interactions were not actively incorporated (‘underlearning’). Preliminary acoustic analysis motivates an OCP restriction against multiple laryngeally marked segments, due to the shared feature [long non-modal voicing]. But in simplex nouns the co-occurrence of two tense onsets is overrepresented. This apparent contradiction is explained by a directionality difference: compound tensification is progressive, as opposed to the regressive assimilation of creaky voice from the vowel of the following syllable in simplex words.

In this paper we present the results of a study of Japanese-influenced English loanwords in Korean. We identify some 10 phonological indexes that identify the loan's Japanese provenance and examine their relative rate of retention in 287 loan forms that show a mixture of Japanese-style and direct-English-style phonological characteristics. Our chief finding is that certain traits of Japanese-style loanwords are more resistant to change to the direct English style of adaptation that is applied to contemporary loans. We consider two possible explanations for such a hierarchy. First, the resistance hierarchy reflects the relative perceptual saliency of the relevant features (cf. Steriade, 2001). Second, the resistance hierarchy reflects the degree of confidence Korean speakers have about the ''correct'' direct-English borrowing pattern.

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This paper examines the accent systems of Middle Korean (MK) and the contemporary Korean dialects (North/South Kyengsang, Hamkyeng/Yanbian) both synchronically and diachronically, focusing on native simplex nouns. In an analysis of the MK accent system, we clarify correlations between a syllable’s segmental shape and the accent class of the stem, and propose that in Proto-Korean native nouns did not have a distinctive pitch accent. We also show that MK (as well as Proto-Korean) had a right-to-left iambic prominence system in which the unaccented stem class had an underlying floating H tone reflecting an apocopated syllable from an earlier stage of the language. We then examine the regular accentual correspondences between MK and the contemporary dialects and hypothesize that the accent retraction found in the Kyengsang dialects (“Kyengsang accent shift”) took place after the introduction of Sino-Korean vocabulary. Finally, based on an Optimality Theoretic analysis, we show that all dialects including MK tend to avoid a lapse in accent at the right edge of the word, which is accomplished by different repair strategies.

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