[DOI: 10.17959/sppm.2023.29.1.81]

[본문: 파일]

The effects of orthography and morphological decomposability in production of -ly complex words

Hye Jeong Yu (Hanshin University) 

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate gemination arising from the suffix -ly in Korean 

English  learners  through  two  experiments.  Experiment  1  examined  gemination 

through the suffix -ly in terms of absolute duration, preceding vowel duration, and 

relative duration by Korean English learners and English speakers and compared it 

with  gemination  in  simplex  words.  The  results  showed  no  geminate-singleton 

contrast in -ly complex words and simplex words for English speakers, but as the 

base  words  contain  more  orthographic  lateral  consonants  before  the  suffix  -ly, 

absolute durations increased. Similarly, Korean English learners at an advanced level 

tended  to  produce  longer  absolute  durations  in  -ly  complex  words  with  more 

orthographic lateral consonants in the base word. However, Korean English learners 

at both advanced and intermediate levels showed no durational differences associated 

with gemination when the preceding vowels were stressed. But they produced longer 

absolute durations for double laterals through the suffix -ly than for single laterals. 

Simple word had longer absolute durations for double laterals but shorter preceding 

vowel  durations,  resulting  in  longer  relative  durations  for  double  laterals.  In 

Experiment  2,  sixty-two  Korean  English  learners  rated  familiarity  and  semantic 

segmentability  of  -ly  complex  words.  The  results  showed  that  familiarity  and

segmentability ratings were correlated, and that weak morpheme boundary by lower

segmentability  led  the  laterals  across  morpheme  boundary  to  undergo  phonetic 

reduction, resulting in shorter absolute durations. The duration of -ly complex word 

seems to be influenced by spelling information, but morphological decomposability 

more strongly affects phonetic reduction of absolute durations of double laterals at 

morpheme boundary. 

Keywords

-ly suffix, gemination, orthography, segmentability, English proficiency