Lee, Borim and Ki-jeong Lee. 2000. Journal of the Linguistic Association of Korea, 8(3), 47-63. In this paper we deal with some functional considerations behind phonological processes which appear to destroy the underlying contrasts. A series of trun...
Lee, Borim and Ki-jeong Lee. 2000. Journal of the Linguistic Association of Korea, 8(3), 47-63. In this paper we deal with some functional considerations behind phonological processes which appear to destroy the underlying contrasts. A series of truncation phenomena, in their nature, result in loss of underlying information, which in turn damages intelligibility in communication. From a functional point of view, there may exist certain processes which seem to compensate for the destruction caused by extensive truncation. We discuss a neutralization process, an influence of deleted segments over the remaining segments, a homonymy-avoiding process, and a case of restructuring in a suffix of a secret language of Lardil. We conclude, then, that all these phenomena deserve new interpretations in the context of recoverability of underlying contrasts, which is based on functional constraints in languages. (Wonkwang University and Hanyang University)