일반 미국 영어의 모음-/r/ 연구

In General American, vowel-/r/ sequences show special characteristics; (i) no tense vowels appear before /r/ and (ii) /r/ in the syllable coda is realized as [ɚ], which forms a diphthong with a preceding lax vowel. This paper argues that these characteristics of vowel-/r/ sequences result from laxing of a tense vowel preceding /r/ and vocalization of /r/ placed in the coda. This can be accounted for in terms of Optimality Theory by proposing two markedness constraints regarding /r/. One is the constraint that prohibits a tense vowel before /r/ and the other is the one that prevents /r/ from taking place in the coda.