On the Pitch-Accent System of South Kyungsang Korean: A Phonological Perspective

Researchers on South Kyungsang Korean (SK) have been divided as to whether SK is a tone language or a pitch-accent language. While traditionally SK Korean has been viewed as a tone language (U Huh 1954, C-G Gim 1994, 1998, H-Y Lee 1994, 1997), there has been an alternative view that SK is a pitch-accent language (Ramsey 1974, 1975, JW Kim 1991, Kubozono 2007, DM Lee 2008). The split between the two views is found in the most recent research on SK. For example, S-E Chang (2007) maintains that SK is a 3-tone language based largely on phonetic criteria while DM Lee (2009) argues both on phonetic and phonological grounds that SK is a pitch-accent language. Likewise, JE Kim and S-A Jun (this volume) posit that SK has a pitch-accent system. There is even a hybrid position proposed by Utsugi (2007, this volume) suggesting that certain kinds of tonal patterns in SK reflect pitch accent while other patterns reflect underlying word melodies (or tones). In this paper we lay out a particular analysis of SK as a pitch-accent system based on the tonal patterns that occur in monomorphemic nouns and on the nature of tonal alternations found under suffixation. In Section 2, we offer a brief discussion and critique of previous work viewing SK as a tone language. Our focus in this paper will be exclusively on SK. We will occasionally make reference to related phe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!