Does phrase-initial denasalization extend beyond Seoul Korean? Evidence from North Gyeongsang Korean

Abstract

This study examines the prosodic and sociolinguistic conditioning of word-initial nasal consonant denasalization in North Gyeongsang (NG) Korean, focusing on prosodic position and gender. Nasal duration and subsequent vowel nasalization (A1-P0) in word-initial syllables of /mami/ were analyzed across two prosodic boundary conditions (IP-initial, IP-medial) for 26 speakers in their 20s. Results indicate that while NG Korean exhibits phrase-initial nasal reduction, it does not show clear evidence of an advancing denasalization process. Unlike Seoul Korean, where denasalization appears to be phonologizing, NG Korean demonstrates a more moderate reduction pattern, with no significant gender differences. This suggests NG Korean remains phonologically conservative, likely due to both sociolinguistic resistance to phonetic innovation and its head/edge-prominence prosodic structure, which may mitigate extreme domain-initial strengthening effects. While NG Korean’s lexical pitch accent system may constrain segmental reduction, mechanisms for its interaction with vowel nasalization remain unclear. Future research should examine whether tonal specifications influence coarticulatory nasalization and how NG Korean’s trajectory aligns with the ongoing sound change in Seoul Korean. Nevertheless, these findings provide insight into how prosodic structure, dialectal variation, and sociolinguistic factors shape sound change across Korean dialects.