DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Investigating vowel differences in North and South Korea: Phonetic analysis of younger speakers in read and conversational speech

  • Jungah Lee (Linguistics Convergence Institute, Chosun University) ;
  • Kaori Idemaru (East Asian Languages and Literature, University of Oregon)
  • 투고 : 2024.08.09
  • 심사 : 2024.09.10
  • 발행 : 2024.09.30

초록

Previous studies have highlighted the linguistic divergence between North and South Korean varieties. Although acoustic differences between North and South Korean in vowel production have been prominently observed, the vowel production in the standard varieties of Pyongyang North Korean (NK) and Seoul South Korean (SK) has had limited investigation. This study aims to explore the phonetic differences in vowel production between NK and SK speakers across two speech styles: careful and conversational speech. We analyzed a total of 13,370 vowels from each of 22 younger NK and SK speakers (16 females and 6 males in each group). Our findings reveal significant differences in the production of the vowels [æ], [ʌ], and [o] between the two varieties. Specifically, NK speakers maintained a distinction in height between the [e]-[æ] pair, a contrast that was not observed among SK speakers. Additionally, in NK, the [ʌ]-[o] pair showed considerable overlap (vowel merger) in both height and backness dimensions. These results shed light on the phonetic divergence between NK and SK varieties, offering insights into the acoustic features of NK vowel production. In further study, this understanding is crucial for supporting adaptation of NK refugees from the perspective of second dialect acquisition in South Korea.

키워드

과제정보

We sincerely appreciate the NK and SK speakers for providing valuable data for this study. Their contributions have been essential to our research. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the reviewers for their insightful feedback and helpful advice, which greatly improved this work.

참고문헌

  1. Anastassiadis, T., Ralli, A., Gekas, S., Pappas, P., Siotou, A., Tsolakidis, S., Karachaliou, R., ... Papanagiotou, C. (2017) Immigration and language in Canada: Greeks and Greek Canadians. [Electronic Database]. The questionnaire created and used for the interviews which are part of the immigrec database. Retrieved from https://virtual.immigrec.com/en#/start/immigration-and-language-in-canada
  2. Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 390-412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005
  3. Bates, D., Machler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1-48.
  4. Brown, L. (2015). Honorifics and politeness. The handbook of Korean linguistics, (pp. 303-319). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
  5. Chambers, J. K., & Trudgill, P. (1998). Dialectology (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Eckert, P. (2012). Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology, 41(1), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828
  7. Edwards, J. (1999). Reflections on language diversity and the vernacular. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  8. Foulkes, P., & Docherty, G. (1999). Urban voices: Accent studies in the British Isles. London, UK: Arnold.
  9. Giles, H. (1980). Accommodation theory: Some new directions. York Papers in Linguistics, 9, 105-136.
  10. Hall-Lew, L. (2010). Improved representation of variance in measures of vowel merger. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 9(1), 060002.
  11. Han, J. I., & Kang, H. (2013). Cross-generational Change of/o/and/u/in Seoul Korean I: Proximity in Vowel Space: Proximity in Vowel Space. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 5(2), 25-31. https://doi.org/10.13064/KSSS.2013.5.2.025
  12. Hillenbrand, J., Getty, L. A., Clark, M. J., & Wheeler, K. (1995). Acoustic characteristics of American English vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97(5), 3099-3111. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.411872
  13. Jang, H., & Jiyoung, S. (2006). An acoustic study on the generational difference of the monophthongs in the Daegu dialect. Malsori, 57, 15-30.
  14. Johnson, K. (2003). Acoustic and auditory phonetics. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  15. Jun, S. A. (2000). K-ToBI (Korean ToBI) labelling conventions. Retrieved from http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/jun/ktobi/k-tobi.html
  16. Kahng, S. K. (1999a). The merger of back vowels in North Korean. Korean Society of Speech Sciences, 5(2), 41-55.
  17. Kahng, S. K. (1999b). The Hypercorrection of Vowel /u/→→/i/ in North Korean Dialects. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 6(1), 33-44.
  18. Kang, J., & Kong, E. J. (2016). Static and dynamic spectral properties of the monophthong vowels in Seoul Korean: Implication on sound change. Phonetics and Speech Sciences, 8(4), 39-47. https://doi.org/10.13064/KSSS.2016.8.4.039
  19. Kang, K. H., & Guion, S. (2009). Sound change and perceptual weight of acoustic correlates to Korean stops. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125(4_Supple), 2568.
  20. Kang, K. H., & Guion, S. G. (2008). Clear speech production of Korean stops: Changing phonetic targets and enhancement strategies. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124(6), 3909-3917. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2988292
  21. Kang, S. K. (1996). Acoustic Analysis of South and North Korean Vowels. Korean Language Research, 32(1), 1-18.
  22. Kang, S. K. (1997). The vowel system of Hamkyong dialect. Korean Language Research, 33(1), 117-135.
  23. Kang, Y., & Yun, S. (2018). Acquisition of second dialect features by North Koreans in Seoul. LabPhon16. Lisbon, Portugal: University of Lisbon.
  24. Kendall, T., & Erik, R. T. (2020). vowels: Vowel manipulation, normalization, and plotting in R (version 1.3-0) [R package manual]. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vowels/vowels.pdf
  25. Kendall, T., Erik R. (2010). Vowels: Vowel manipulation, normalization, and plotting in R (version 1.1) [R package]. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vowels/vowels.pdf
  26. Kim, J. U., & Jang, D. J. (2007). Aliens among brothers? The status and perception of North Korean refugees in South Korea. Asian Perspective, 31(2), 5-22.
  27. Korean Language Association. (1933). A proposition for unified Hankul spelling conventions. Seoul, Korea: Cosen.e.Hak.hoy.
  28. Labov, W. (2006). A sociolinguistic perspective on sociophonetic research. Journal of Phonetics, 34(4), 500-515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2006.05.002
  29. Labov, W. (2010). Where should I begin? In Schiffrin, D. et al. (Eds.) Telling stories: Language, narrative, and social life, (pp. 7-22). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
  30. Ladefoged, P. (2001). A course in phonetics (4th ed.). Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
  31. Lee, H. (2013). Evidence of diachronic sound change: A comparative acoustic study of Seoul and Kyungsang Korean (Doctoral dissertation). University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
  32. Lee, H. B (1991). Phonetic study in North Korea. Hangeul, 213, 7-28.
  33. Lee, H. B. (1990). Differences in language use between North and South Korea. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1990(82), 71-86. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1990.82.71
  34. Lee, I., & Ramsey, S. R. (2000). The Korean language. New York, UK: Suny Press.
  35. Lee, J., Idemaru, K., & Kong, E. J. (under review) The on-going sound change of vowel production in South Korean Seoul Standard. Journal of East Asian Linguistics.
  36. Lee, J., Idemaru, K., & Vaughn, C. (2018). Comparative analysis of South Korean and North Korean vowels: A pilot study. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 144(3_Suppl), 1941.
  37. Lippi-Green, R. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States (2nd ed.). London, UK: Routledge.
  38. Lobanov, B. M. (1971). Classification of Russian vowels spoken by different speakers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 49(2B), 606-608. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1912396
  39. Luce, P. A., & Charles-Luce, J. (1985). Contextual effects on vowel duration, closure duration, and the consonant/vowel ratio in speech production. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 78(6), 1949-1957. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.392651
  40. Milroy, J., & Milroy, L. (1999). Authority in language: Investigating language prescription and standardisation (3rd ed.). London, UK: Routledge.
  41. Morgan, J. M. (2015). A diachronic analysis of North and South Korean monophthongs: Vowel shifts on the Korean peninsula. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University.
  42. Park, C., & Ahn, H. (2009). Relationship among PTSD, forgiveness, experiential avoidance of North Korean refugees. Counselling Studies, 10(4), 1891-1905.
  43. R Core Team. (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Computer software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/
  44. Seong, C. J. (2004). An acoustic analysis on the Korean 8 monophthongs: With respect to the acoustic variables on the F1/F2 vowel space, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea, 23(6), 454-461.
  45. Sin, C. Y., Shin, J., Kiaer, J., & Cha, J. (2012). The sounds of Korean. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  46. Sohn, H. M. (2001). The korean language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  47. Tannen, D. (1984). Conversational style: Analyzing talk among friends. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
  48. Trudgill, P. (1989). The dialects of England. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
  49. Trudgill, P. (2000). Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society (4th ed.). London, UK: Penguin Books.
  50. Umeda, H. (1999). A diachronic vowel-change in the present-day Seoul Korean. Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library), 57, 91-111.
  51. Van Summers, W. (1987). Effects of stress and final-consonant voicing on vowel production: Articulatory and acoustic analyses. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 82(3), 847-863. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.395284
  52. Winter, B., & Grawunder, S. (2012). The phonetic profile of Korean formal and informal speech registers. Journal of Phonetics, 40(6), 808-815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2012.08.006