Against a Lenition Account of Tapping: Evidence from Yonbyon Korean

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to revisit the property of tapping, based on the data from Yonbyon Korean. Taps have been described as short segments derived from corresponding stops or trills. It is also widely assumed that tapping occurs due to lenition to minimize articulatory effort. However, Yonbyon Korean data show that taps can occur in strong as well as weak positions The results of the acoustic experiments conducted in this study show that in syllable-onset position, obstruent taps consistently appear from the underlying laterals, while in intervocalic position, sonorant taps similar to American English taps occur. The results of this study provide evidence against the uniform account of tapping as the result of lenition.