• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.41-53
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• 2020

A wh-phrase in an embedded sentence may have either an embedded or a matrix scope. Interpretation of a wh-phrase with a matrix scope has tended to be syntactically unacceptable unless the sentence reads with a wh-intonation. Previous studies have found two differences in prosodic characteristics between sentences with matrix and embedded scopes. Firstly, peak F0s in wh-phrases produced with an F0 compression wh-intonation are higher than those in indirect questions, and peak F0s in matrix verbs are lower than those in sentences with embedded scope. Secondly, a substantial F0 drop is found at the end of embedded sentences in indirect questions, whereas no F0 reduction at the same point is noticed in sentences with a matrix scope produced with a high plateau wh-intonation. However, these characteristics were not found in our experiment. This showed that a more compelling difference exists in the values obtained from subtraction between the peak F0s of each word (or a word plus an ending or case marker) and the F0s at the end of the word. Specifically, the gap between the peak F0 in a word composed with an embedded verb and the F0 at the end of the word, which is a complementizer in Korean, is large in embedded wh-scope sentences and low in matrix wh-scope sentences.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-35
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• 2021

This study investigated the status of the wh-island constraint in Seoul Korean. The syntactic movement of a wh-phrase out of an embedded sentence so as to have wide scope at LF is known to be invalid as it violates the wh-island constraint, but there have been studies in which such a movement was possible when the sentence is read with a wh-intonation. We conducted perceptual tests in which subjects were asked to select an answer after listening to each of the four types of interrogative sentences. Three of them were with 'Nugu-leul', which is an accusative form of the wh-phrase 'who' as well as an indefinite form. The fourth sentence contained the name of a person. 'Nugu-leul' and the noun were positioned in the same embedded sentence to see whether the subjects accepted a matrix scope interpretation of the wh-phrases. Response time was transformed to normalized log response time and checked to find any differences in the time taken to select the answers depending on different types of interrogative sentences. The results showed the subjects had a definite preference for the matrix scope interpretation for the sentences with a wh-intonation. The response time required to select the matrix scope interpretation was longer than for any other type of interrogative sentence. We concluded that the wh-island constraint in Seoul Korean is weak.