Perceptual deletion of onset /n/ in Korean

Abstract

This paper examines varying degrees of perceptibility of Korean /n/ in /nasal-nV/ contexts. Two perception tests were conducted and showed that onset /n/ was often confused to a null segment if the following vocoid is /j/ or /i/. Since it is the non-prominent segment that is often confused to a null value or to an adjacent segment (Cote, 2000), the findings in this paper support the suggestion in Jun (2015) who argues that Korean /n/ shows low perceptibility before /j/ or /i/ based on /n/-insertion in /C-j/ and /C-i/ that results in /nasal-nj/ and /nasal-ni/ sequences. That both /n/-insertion in Jun (2015) and /n/-confusion in this paper occur in the same contexts support P-map theory in Steriade (2009), namely that the segment with lowest perceptibility is more likely to be inserted or deleted.