• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

This study aims to enhance English pronunciation education for Korean students by examining the impact of standard Korean and Gyeongsang regional dialect on the articulation of English vowels. Data were obtained through the Korean-Spoken English Corpus (K-SEC). Seven Korean words and ten English mono-syllabic words were uttered by adult, male speakers of standard Korean and Gyeongsang regional dialect, in particular, speakers with little to no experience living abroad were selected. Formant frequencies of the recorded corpus data were measured using spectrograms, provided by the speech analysis program, Praat. The recorded data were analyzed using the articulatory graph for formants. The results show that in comparison with speakers using standard Korean, those using the Gyeongsang regional dialect articulated both Korean and English vowels in the back. Moreover, the contrast between standard Korean and Gyeongsang regional dialect in the pronunciation of Korean vowels (/으/, /어/) affected how the corresponding English vowels (/ə/, /ʊ/) were articulated. Regardless of the use of regional dialect, a general feature of vowel pronunciation among Korean people is that they show more narrow articulatory movements, compared with that of native English speakers. Korean people generally experience difficulties with discriminating tense and lax vowels, whereas native English speakers have clear distinctions in vowel articulation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4098-4106
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• 2012

This study aims to investigate the effect of trunk muscle strengthening exercises on balance performance of sitting posture and muscle tone, targeting the children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. 16 children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy in IV phase of GMFCS were sampled at random and the tests were conducted for 6 weeks, 3 times per week. For experimental groups, only trunk muscle strengthening exercises were conducted and for control groups, only basic physical therapy was conducted. The trunk muscle strengthening exercise consisted of 2 exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles and back muscles. BPM(Balance Performance Monitor) was used to measure balance performance and MMAS(Modified Modified Ashworth Scale) was used to measure muscle tone. As a result, the changes of sitting balance performance in experimental groups and control groups show significant difference in the changes of sway path and sway velocity(p<.05), the comparison of changes in sitting balance performance in between experimental groups and control groups show significant difference in the changes of sway path and sway velocity(p<.05). Knee flexor muscles and hip adductor muscles in both groups show no significant difference in changes of the muscle tone(p>.05). Therefore, the balance performance in both experimental groups and control groups was improved. However, the experimental group had more significant improvement in balance performance and no change in muscle tone was detected in both groups. Thus, these findings show trunk muscle strengthening exercises are effective in improving the balance performance of sitting posture for the children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy without changing muscle tone.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.19-27
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• 2008

Several studies on the pronunciation of English vowels point out that Korean learners have difficulty distinguishing English tense and lax vowel pairs. The acoustic comparisons of those studies are mostly based on the formant measurement at one time point of a given vowel section. However, the English lax vowels usually show dynamic changes across their syllable peaks and subjects' English levels account for various conflicting results. The purposes of this paper are to compare the temporal duration and dynamic formant tracks of English tense and lax vowel pairs produced by five Korean and five American males. The subjects were graduate students of an American state university. Results showed that both the Korean and American males produced the vowels with comparable durations. The duration of the front tense-lax vowel pair was longer than that of the back vowel pair. From the formant track comparisons, the American males produced the tense and lax pairs much more distinctly than the Korean male speakers. The results suggest that the Korean males should pay attention to the F1 and F2 movements, i.e., the jaw and tongue movements, in order to match those of the American males. Further studies are recommended on the auditorily acceptable ranges of F2 variation for the lax vowels.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.195-201
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to use high-speed digital imaging (HSDI) to compare vocal vibratory behaviors of persons who stutter (PWS) and persons with muscle tension dysphonia (PMTD) for uttering the /i/ vowel in a bid to identify the characteristics of vocal fold vibratory behaviors of PWS. This study surveyed seven developmental PWSs and seven PMTDs. The findings of the study indicated the following: first, regarding the two groups' vocal fold vibratory behaviors, of seven PWSs, three were found to be close vocal tract (VC) and four were found to be combination vocal tract (VCB). Of the seven PMTDs, one was found to be VC, and the other six were found to be VCB. These results indicate that a voiceprint which is different from the open vocal tract (VO) found in normal groups in research conducted by Jung, et al. (2008b) appeared in both groups of this study. Even between the two groups, there is a difference in the voiceprint before vocalization. Second, a VKG analysis was conducted to identify the two groups' vocal cord contact quotient. As a result, the PWS group's vocal cord contact quotient changed gradually from an irregular one at the initial vocalization stage to a regular one. The PMTD group continued the tension at the initial vocalization. Putting together all of these results, there is a difference in vocal fold vibratory behaviors between PWSs and PMTDs when they speak. Thus, there was a difference in muscular tension between the two groups.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.659-671
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• 2013

Through Korean traditional opera (changgeuk) Medea, composer Hwang Ho-jun showed eclectic music idiom by 1) writing music (jakchang) on manuscript paper and score, 2) introducing the "song-through" format, 3) including various solo melodies, 4) maximizing the effect created by a singing narrator (dochang) with the chorus master and a mixed chorus, 5) seeking an interplay of tension and release by using both discord and chord, 6) achieving the effect of kil-bakkum, the Korean traditional method of modulation, through modulation and borrowed chord of Western music. In Medea, instrumentalists adopted suseong-banju (Korean traditional accompaniment) which does not spoil the voice of singers. Hwang adopted song for the way how singers express various hidden sides of play among song, aniri (narration) and balim (gesture) and introduced the Sung-through format in which the play is comprised entirely of song. In Medea, oral sounds expressing wail, lament, cheer, sneer and scream are often used and various solo melodies appear that fit for personalities of characters, clearly showing what bunchang (singers' singing songs divided according to characters) is all about. And discord and chord are effectively used according to the development and mood of play. Hwang also achieved successfully the effect of kil-bakkum by abandoning the traditional modulation method and boldly introducing modulation and borrowed chord of Western music.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.294-307
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• 2018

The aim of this study is to find out how married women who had had an abortions experience a change through Family Constellation. The consequent changes will occur in the perception of an abortion experience and in the relation between married women themselves and their family. The participants in the study were 9 married women aged 40~60 who have experienced an abortion, and data collection was carried out over 3 periods which were before, right after and one month after the Family Constellation experience through individual in-depth interviews. The chief methodology of this study is based on the one by Colaizzi's phenomenological research, and by using the methodology to analyze the data 15 theme collections and 3 categories were deducted. According to the result of the analysis, the experience of abortion was having negative influence on the whole spectrum of the life of married women who experienced an abortion even though they did not consciously recall the relevant experiences. In the married women's Family Constellation, the agent visualizes the restrained relation which is hidden in unconsciousness and thereby offers an opportunity for married women to untie "knot". Moreover through this opportunity, married women are able to have new perception of their abortion experience and the relation between their family. Furthermore, not only will they be able to recover the relationship with their family, but also emotional stability.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.87-101
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• 2022

In addition to administering a questionnaire (J-survey), which questions individuals on subjective vocal fatigue, voice samples were collected before and after speech-language pathology sessions from 50 female speech-language pathologists in their 20s and 30s in the Daejeon and Chungnam areas. We identified significant differences in Korean Vocal Fatigue Index scores between the fatigue and non-fatigue groups, with the most prominent differences in sections one and two. Regarding acoustic phonetic characteristics, both groups showed a pattern in which low-frequency band energy was relatively low, and high-frequency band energy was increased after the treatment sessions. This trend was well reflected in the low-to-high ratio of vowels, slope LTAS, energy in the third formant, and energy in the 4,000-8,000 Hz range. A difference between the groups was observed only in the vowel energy of the low-frequency band (0-4,000 Hz) before treatment, with the non-fatigue group having a higher value than the fatigue group. This characteristic could be interpreted as a result of voice abuse and higher muscle tonus caused by long-term voice work. The perturbation parameter and shimmer local was lowered in the non-fatigue group after treatment, and the noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) was lowered in both groups following treatment. The decrease in NHR and the fall of shimmer local could be attributed to vocal cord hypertension, but it could be concluded that the effective voice use of speech-language pathologists also contributed to this effect, especially in the non-fatigue group. In the case of the non-fatigue group, the rhamonics-to-noise ratio increased significantly after treatment, indicating that the harmonic structure was more stable after treatment.