Variation and change in Chinese Korean: The case of vowel /y/

Abstract

This study investigates the current status of the vowel /y/, a phoneme that has undergone complete diphthongization to [wi] in Seoul Korean (Choo & O'Grady, 2003; Kang, 1997; Kim, 1988; Martin, 1992), in Chinese Korean. Set in the context of language and dialect contact, where Chinese language and different local/supralocal Korean norms all come into play, especially when the closed local social network no longer exists, Chinese Korean develops unique patterns of variation for underlying /y/, patterns heretofore unreported in the studies of other Korean varieties. Chinese Korean provides a case in point toward the explanation for how effects exerted by linguistic and social factors within a speech community may alter the diffusion of a change with origins outside the local network.

Language-dependent Cue weighting in Distinctive Feature: Evidence from the Perception of Mandarin High Vowels by Native English Speakers

“…In the seven-vowel system (/i u o a/), there is no high front rounded vowel /y/. Furthermore, the weakening of the liprounding distinction can be observed in the high front vowels of the Korean language, as the /y/ and /ø/ diphthongs have evolved into /wi/ and /we/, as noted by previous studies (Heo, 2013;Jin, 2012). The weakening of the lip-rounding distinction in high front vowels suggests that Korean speakers currently place more emphasis on backness than roundness features.…”