A new look at partial reduplication in Korean

Kim, Hyung-Soo. 2003. A new look at partial reduplication in Korean. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 0.0. 00-000. An approach based on the phonological process of dissimilation turns out to do a better job of explaining the so-called asymmetry and delaryngealization in partial reduplication of ideophonic words in Korean than any of previous constraint-based analyses, including those done under Optimality Theory, calling into question the wisdom of many of the theoretical assumptions of such approaches. While the previous analyses had to make the unmotivated postulation of final velar consonant extrametricality and accept the partial reduplication in, e.g. culu-luk “dribbling of rain, tear, etc.” as a type of infixation, the processual approach adopted here does away with such assumptions, explaining the reduplication instead as a natural consequence of the dissimilation of consonant clusters, by first suffixing the final CVC syllable of the base followed by elision of the first velar consonant in coda position by the dissimilation of kCVk# ØCVk#. It is shown that this rule of dissimilation of consonant clusters, with the necessary refinements and extensions made, can also be applied to cases of the so-called asymmetry in, e.g. tu-tusil <*tu-tusil “floating gently” and t’ekt’ekul<*t’ek-t’ekul “rolling; rumbling” as well as those of delaryngealization in, e.g. p’apa <*p’a-p’a “banging sound (of a gun)” thus providing a unified explanation of Korean partial reduplication, unlike the previous analyses in which as many as three separate solutions had to be assumed. (Jeonju University)