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Chapter 14. Loanword accent of Kyungsang Korean

A moraic account
  • Haruo Kubozono
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Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics
This chapter is in the book Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics

Abstract

This paper reanalyzes loanword prosody of North and South Kyungsang Korean and proposes a mora-based accentual analysis as opposed to the traditional syllable-based tonal analyses. The new analysis is based on the following three observations. First, loanwords in both North and South Kyungsang Korean are invariably ‘accented’ in that they involve a sudden pitch fall at the surface output. Second, accent in Kyungsang Korean is fixed in a certain position of the word and does not change in phrases. Third, Kyungsang loanwords are generally accented on their penultimate mora: pitch falls between the penultimate and final moras in most loanwords, whether it is across syllables or within a syllable. Kyungsang Korean is thus a ‘mora-counting language’ as far as loanword prosody is concerned, just like many Japanese dialects.

Abstract

This paper reanalyzes loanword prosody of North and South Kyungsang Korean and proposes a mora-based accentual analysis as opposed to the traditional syllable-based tonal analyses. The new analysis is based on the following three observations. First, loanwords in both North and South Kyungsang Korean are invariably ‘accented’ in that they involve a sudden pitch fall at the surface output. Second, accent in Kyungsang Korean is fixed in a certain position of the word and does not change in phrases. Third, Kyungsang loanwords are generally accented on their penultimate mora: pitch falls between the penultimate and final moras in most loanwords, whether it is across syllables or within a syllable. Kyungsang Korean is thus a ‘mora-counting language’ as far as loanword prosody is concerned, just like many Japanese dialects.

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