The purpose of this paper is to explore morphological effects on tensification in Korean triconstituent compounds. Under the assumption that the internal bracketing of compound words is reflected in the tensification of head nouns, 40 triconstituent compounds were selected and presented to 30 native Korean speakers, aged between 20 and 25. Participants were asked to choose which tensification pattern is more acceptable in their production. This study revealed that the strength of morphological

boundaries and the frequency of embedded compounds may be reflected in varying degrees of tensification. That is, embedded constituents are more prone to tensification, such that the higher the frequency of the embedded compounds, the greater the propensity for tensification becomes. By examining the phonetic detail of morphologically complex words, we may be able to make some progress in understanding the highly dynamic and variable nature of tensification in Korean compound nouns. (Korea University of Technology and Education)