Abstract
This paper describes the acoustic characteristics of 8 Korean monophthongs. Two acoustic variables were newly manipulated the distance between Fl and F2 (Δ[F2-Fl]). which might be of help for the judgement of the vowel backness. and Euclidian distance between two vowels. [에] & [애] were observed to be merged in both male vowel space and the female's. respectively. The merger of [우] & [오], on the other hand, was only seen in the female space. In case of Fl, which concerns the vowel height. the scope of the females' was 1.36 times longer than that of the males' Regarding F2, which is related to the vowel backness. the females used a space 1.29 times longer than the males. The observation of Euclidian distance between the basic 3 vowels (이. 아. 우) showed that the females have longer distance than the males: [이-아] 1.25 times, [아-우] 1.45 times, and [이-우] 1.35 times. respectively.