Question

(Korean) Korean is a 'language isolate,' meaning that it is not linguistically related to other languages. In the following Korean words, you will find the sounds [s] and [(sh)]. Answer all parts of the question below on the following data from Koren:

a. [(sh)i] 'poem' j. [sal] 'flesh'
b. [mi(sh)in] 'superstition' k. [kasu] 'singer'
c. [(sh)inmun] 'newspaper' l. [sanmun] 'prose'
d. [(th)aksa(ng)(sh)ige] 'clock' m. [kasAl] 'hypothesis'
e. [(sh)ilsu] 'mistake' n. [miso] 'smile'
f. [o(sh)ip] 'fifty' o. [susek] 'search'
g. [pa(ng)(sh)ik] 'method' p. [tapsa] 'exploration'
h. [(kan(sh)ik] 'snack' q. [so] 'cow'
i. [ka(sh)i] 'thorn'

Examine the phones [s] and [(sh)].

i. Write out the distributions for these two phones; that is, list the specific phonetic environments in which they occur.
ii. What sort of distribution is present between these two phones: contrastive or complementary

Answer 1

Korean is spoken in Korea.

And the distribution sort is complementary.

Step-by-step explanation:

An allophone is a variant pronunciations for a phoneme.

i. Korean is spoken in Korea, we see from the following Korean words above that [ʃ] and [s] are allophones of the same phoneme – since they are in complementary distribution.

ii. The question above outlined the basic allophone is [s] and the derived allophone is [ʃ].

It is also observable that the sound [ʃ] occurs before [i], and [s] occurs elsewhere.

Answer 2

No minimal pairs.

Environment [ s ] : beginning; inside.

Environment [ ʃ ] : beginning; inside.

Before [ s ] : [k], [l], [a], [I], [u].

After [ s ] : [a], [u], [I], [ə], [e].

Before [ ʃ ] : [I], [ŋ], [o], [n], [a].

After [ ʃ ] : [i].

The sounds [n], and [ ʃ ] are two allophones of same phoneme, they are in a complimentary distribution: [ʃ] appears only after [I], whereas, [s] appears everywhere else. Hence, y/sy/ must be the basic phoneme.