Different adaptation patterns of English /f/ in Korean loanword phonology: cases of direct borrowing and indirect borrowing

Abstract

This paper investigates the different adaptation patterns of English /f/ in Korean loanword phonology, employing Optimality Theory. In Korean loanword phonology, the target /f/ can be realized in various ways depending on borrowing sources: [ph] in direct borrowing from English /f/ and/or [hw]/[hu] in indirect borrowing via Japanese /Φ/. The same constraint ranking is posited to account for the various realizations of the target /f/ in both direct borrowing and indirect borrowing across different prosodic locations. Specifically, deviated forms from the target /f/ emerge because of the high-ranked markedness constraint of *Structure which prohibits segments that are not present in the Korean phonemic inventory. The realization of [hw]/[hu] in indirect borrowing via Japanese is accounted for by the constraint of Category preservation whereby the source /Φ/ best matches to the Korean /h/ in terms of category. Category preservation is irrelevant for the realization of [ph] in direct borrowing because there is no matching category in Korean for the target /f/. Further, it is shown that /f/ is realized as [hu] in word-initial onset position when the target /f/ occurs in a consonant cluster in the source language, due to the constraint OCP. It is also shown that the realization of /f/ as [ph□] in word-final coda position can be accounted for by the generalized Release-to-vowel insertion constraint.