현대국어 이중모음 ` 의 ` 의 단모음화 실현에 대하여 = On the Characterization of the Diphthong 의 in Modern Korean)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the properties of the diphthong ㅢ, which is still debated.
The vowel system of modern Korean consists of ten monophthongs and eleven diphthongs. Every diphthong has a peak nucleus and a peak satellite (or a semi-vowel). We call a semi-vowel plus a peak nucleus a rising diphthong and a peak nucleus plus a semi-vowel a falling diphthong. As is well known, vowels such as ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅚ, and ㅟ, which were diphthongs in middle Korean, changed to monophthongs in modern Korean. On the other hand, the vowel ㅢ, which was a diphghong in middle Korean, did not undergo the process of monophongization and thus stays as a diphthong in modem Korean.
In modern Korean, diphthongs such as ㅑ, ㅒ, ㅕ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅛ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅠ, ㅢ, ㅚ, and ㅟ are classified as rising diphthongs, whereas only ㅢ as a falling diphthong. However, several phonologists argue chat the vowel ㅢ is a rising diphthong. The other problem with ㅢ is that it is difficult to pronounce it precisely. Some speakers pronounce it as the monophthong like ㅡ or ㅣ.
Accordingly, this paper will deal with both theories chiming that the vowel ㅢ is a rising diphthong and a falling diphthong, respectively. Furthermore, it will provide an account of what the exact phonetic realization of the vowel ㅢ is.