This study utilizes Optimality Theory(OT) to analyze the utterance errors made by Chinese learners in Korean language and establishes constraint types and hierarchies that influence these errors. Through the above, this study investigates the mechanisms applied to typical errors by Chinese learners observed in the process of learning Korean language’s liaison, aspiration, and lateralization. Further, it explains the reasons for these errors and infers how the constraint arrangements should be adjusted for Chinese learners to learn Korean phonological rules correctly.
First, chapter 2 explains the theoretical background of OT, which serves as this study’s theoretical framework, and its evaluation methods. It then introduces the markedness and faithfulness constraints, which play a fundamental role in OT. Furthermore, OT principles are used to establish constraint settings related to Korean and Chinese syllable structures.
Chapter 3 establishes the constraint types and hierarchies that influence the correct optimal forms produced by native Korean speakers, providing the theoretical foundation for chapters 4, 5, and 6 to contrast the constraint types and hierarchies that affect the error types found in Chinese learners’ outputs.
Thus, the constraint hierarchy that influences Korean lenition is established as Max-IO, Dep-IO, Ident-IO(F) ≫ Onset, NoCoda. Aspiration, regardless of the position of /ㅎ/, can be explained by a common set of constraints and a constraint hierarchy, which is *Complex ≫ Max-IO ≫ NoCoda ≫ Uniformity ≫ Align-Left ≫ Ident-IO(F) in order. Finally, for lateralization, this study demonstrates that a constraint hierarchy is formed as Agree(latera/nasal) 》Ident(lateral) 》Ident(nasal). This hierarchy allows for the interpretation of both the /ㄹ-ㄴ/ and the /ㄴ-ㄹ/ chains with a common set of constraints and constraint hierarchy.
Chapter 4 analyzes geminate consonant errors that Chinese learners typically exhibit when learning Korean liaison within the framework of OT. The study initially approaches them through the lens of Chinese phonological restrictions to analyze such errors. When the error cannot be explained by the native language, a markedness constraint called Align-Right is newly set, and the Onset constraint level is elevated, forming the hierarchy of Onset 》Max-IO. Resultantly, the newly established constraint hierarchy becomes Align-Right 》*n.(n.V) 》Onset 》Max-IO, Dep-IO, Ident-IO(F) 》NoCoda, which accounts for the occurrence of geminate consonant errors. Thus, the newly established constraint hierarchy Align-Right 》*n.(n.V) 》Onset 》Max-IO, Dep-IO, Ident-IO(F) 》NoCoda could identify geminate consonant errors.
Therefore, this study confirms that by demoting the Align-Right and *n.(n.V) constraints, which occupy higher levels in the Chinese learner’s native language constraint hierarchy, the study obtains correct candidate forms where lenition occurs, thus encouraging to learn Korean lenition correctly.
Chapter 5 analyzes aspiration omission errors that typically occur when Chinese learners learn Korean aspiration. These errors are divided into cases where /ㅎ/ precedes a plain obstruent and cases where /ㅎ/ follows a plain obstruent, and they are analyzed using OT. In analyzing the aspiration omission errors seen in Chinese learners, the study interprets cases where /ㅎ/ precedes a plain obstruent with the constraint hierarchy Align-Left ≫ Uniformity ≫ *Complex, Coda-Cond(Ll) ≫ Max-IO, Ident-IO(F) ≫ Onset, NoCoda.
Furthermore, a new constraint *Non-onset[h] is introduced to explain the error type resulting from aspiration omission when /ㅎ/ follows a plain obstruent, which accounts for the pronunciation variation of /h/ depending on its position. This constraint operates in addition to the native language constraint that affects cases where /ㅎ/ precedes a plain obstruent. The resulting constraint hierarchy is as follows: Uniformity ≫*Complex, Coda-Cond(Ll) ≫ *Non-onset[h] ≫ Align-Left ≫ Max-IO, Ident-IO(F) ≫ Onset, NoCoda. This study aims to explain the same error phenomena using the same constraint hierarchy. The result demonstrates that the aspiration omission errors produced by Chinese learners are produced by the same constraint hierarchy mentioned above.
Therefore, this study suggests that Chinese learners learn the markedness of the *Non-onset[h] constraint, which is specific to Korean, to learn Korean aspiration correctly, in addition to demoting constraints such as Align-Left, Uniformity, and Coda-Cond(L1) that occupy higher levels in the constraint hierarchy of a native language grammar.
Chapter 6 analyzes the constraint types and hierarchy that influence the high-frequency lateralization learning errors by Chinese learners in the Korean language. As /n-l/ clusters are possible in The Chinese language, the study first establishes the constraint types and constraint hierarchy that apply to the /n-l/ clusters in The Chinese language, obtaining an order of Align-Left ≫ Coda-Cond(L1) ≫ Ident(lateral) ≫Max-IO, Ident(nasal) ≫ Agree(lateral/nasal). This study forms a hierarchy of Max-IO ≫ Ident(lateral) ≫ Ident(nasal) to analyze the nasalization error type in lateralization, which results in nasalization errors in lateralization.
In addition to the constraints that affect nasalization errors in /ㄴ-ㄹ/ clusters, this study introduces the Syllcon constraint to analyze the phenomenon further, thus, forming the following established constraint hierarchy: Align-Left ≫ Coda-Cond(L1) ≫ Max-IO ≫ Syllcon ≫Ident(lateral) ≫ Ident(nasal) ≫ Agree(lateral/nasal). By applying this hierarchy, this study can account for nasalization errors in both retrograde and progressive lateralizations.
This study is significant because it elucidates the specific constraints and constraint hierarchy in effect when Chinese learners study Korean phonological rules, particularly liaison, aspiration, and lateralization. The fact that Chinese learners make errors while learning Korean phonological rules highlights the discrepancy between the orthographic and pronunciation forms in the Korean language, which should be highlighted to learners as something significant.