Vowel harmony in Nez Perce and Korean.

Abstract

In this study, I will try to show that vowel harmony in Nez Perce and Korean can be described as a (-ATR) spreading rule. The assumption that the harmonizing feature is (-ATR) is based on Hall and Hall (1980) in the case of Nez Perce, and on Hwang's formant analysis (1983) in the case of Korean. By using radical underspecification and a hierarchical theory of feature structure as the framework of analysis, vowel harmony will be described as a feature spreading rule: spread (-ATR), and the transparency of neutral vowels in the harmonizing process will be accounted for. On the other hand, I will show that in Korean there was a historical change in the type and nature of vowel harmony.