Patterns of Korean Subject Case Marker Useamong Korean-American Bilinguals

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigates allomorph selection among Korean-American bilinguals with a focus on the Korean subject markers -i and -ka. Being aware of the selectional properties of Korean allomorphy – selecting -i after consonant-ending roots and –ka after vowel-ending roots – participants were asked to select one of the two allomorphs following various English nouns. It was observed that although the participants generally followed this rule by selecting -ka after vowel-ending tokens, their selections varied depending on the type of final consonant in the root: -i was preferred after nasals and stops, whereas -ka was preferred after retroflexes. The results indicate that the allomorph selection of Korean subject markers is governed by the general Korean allomorphy rule, while also being influenced by the phonetic properties of English consonants.