이 연구는 성조 기술에 새로운 이론을 적용하기보다 우리말 성조 연구의 성과들을 충분히 수용하면서 발전시키고자 하는 취지에서 비롯되었다. 그 대상으로 15세기 방점법을 되살려 여기에 대립과 중화 이론으로 성조 현상을 기술한 김 차균(1980, 1998)의 연구와 자립 분절 이론으로 성조 현상을 기술한 김 경란(1988)을 비교하였다.
그 결과, 첫째, 두 연구 모두 상성을 독립 성조로 보았고 성조 결합에 중화 규칙을 설정하였다. 그러나 두 연구의 중화 규칙은 다소 차이가 있음을 밝혔다. 둘째, 높이를 설정할 때 전자에서는 음성적인 실질에 바탕을 두었고, 후자에서는 토박이 화자의 언어 직관을 더 중요하게 고려하는 것이 차이를 보였다. 셋째, 일관성 있는 자료 해석을 위해 높이 설정의 상대적 기준이 제시되어 있고 없음에 차이를 보였다. 넷째, 기저형 표시 방법이 표층형과 직관적이냐 추상적이냐에 차이를 보였다. 마지막으로, 전자에서는 성조 도출 단계가 세 단계로 엄격히 구분되어 있으나, 후자에서는 기저형에 규칙의 적용이 자동적으로 표면형과 연결되므로 이러한 구분을 두지 않는다.
This is a comparative study of two tone theories: Gim Cha-Gyun's(1980, 1998) dot-theory by opposition and neutralization and Kim Gyung-Ran's(l988) autosegmental theory.
Both of these theories treated sangseong as a single tone, not a compound tone. They differ from each other in a number of respects, however.
First, Gim(1980) marks sangseong as /L/[LM] in Kyeongnam dialect and /M/[M] in Kyeongbuk dialect, but Kim(1988) marks it as /L/[L] in the former and /H/[H:] in the latter.
Second, Gim(1980) argues that all tones are fixed from the underlying level. In contrast, Kim(1988) holds that head tones (pre linked tones /H/, /L/ in Kyeongnam and /H/ in Kyeongbuk dialect and floating tones /H/ in Kyeongnam and Kyeongbuk dialect) are fixed at the underlying level and the other tones /M/ in Kyeongnam dialect and /L/ in Kyeongbuk dialect are assigned by rules. In particular, Kim(1988) argues that floating tones, /H/[H] and /H/[H:], in Kyeongbuk dialect are due to the lexical differences. In this respect, it can be said that his ways of driving surface forms from the corresponding underlying forms are a little abstract and do not reflect native speakers' intuition.
Third, in explaining the tones /H/, /M/, /L/, Gim(1980) focuses on linguistic senses of native speakers, while Kim(1988) relies on phonetic characteristics.
Fourth, tone units are restrictive when the number of syllables increases and tones are combined with each other. Gim(1980) accounts fur this phenomenon by 'neutralization rule', but Kirn(1988) explains it by 'R-spreading rule', These two rules are different in that the former rule affects all the syllables, whereas the latter rule affects all the syllables but the last one within the domain, which is first influenced by the 'R-spreading rule' but later is changed into /L/ due to the 'R-deletion rule'.
Fifth, a strict classification of three levels is made in Gim's(1980) theory: the underlying tone which is an original tone, the final tone which is derived from opposition and neutralization, and the surface phonetic form which is realized by the unique tone-governing rules of each dialect. On the other hand. in Kim's (1988) theory, different rules apply depending on the assignment of pre-linked tones or floating tones and their application directly gives rise to the surface form. This is to say that in Gim's(I980) theory, levels so strictly divided and the rules applied at each levels are simple, while in Kim's(1988) theory, no such strict level distinction is made, but many rules are required to apply in the order specified for the correct surface phonetic form.