• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.422-435
• /
• 2024

This study intended to verify the effects of face masks on the Korean language in terms of acoustic, aerodynamic, and formant parameters. We chose all types of face masks available in Korea based on filter performance and folding type. Two professional voice actors (a male and a female) with more than 20 years of experience who are native Koreans and speak standard Korean participated in this study as speakers of voice data. Face masks attenuated the high-frequency range, resulting in decreased Vowel Space Area (VSA) and Vowel Articulation Index (VAI)scores and an increased Low-to-High spectral ratio (L/H ratio) in all voice samples. This can result in lower speech intelligibility. However, the degree of increment and decrement was based on the voice characteristics. For female speakers, the Speech Level (SL) and Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) increased with increasing face mask thickness. In this study, the presence or filter performance of a face mask was found to affect speech acoustic parameters according to the speech characteristics. Face masks provoked vocal effort when the vocal intensity was not sufficiently strong, or the environment had less reverberance. Further research needs to be conducted on the vocal efforts induced by face masks to overcome acoustic modifications when wearing masks.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.49
• /
• pp.95-126
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to compare learners' academic texts with academic texts of native speakers and to examine the usage patterns of learners' objectification strategies in detail. In order to achieve objectivity as a discourse mechanism applied to describe the results of academic inquiry in a scientific way with universality and validity, we analyzed concepts and signs such as related intentionality, accuracy, and mitigation of the linguistic markers of objectification strategies. As a result of the comparison, it was analyzed that there are intersectional overlaps with the signs that reveal objectivity, signs indicating related mechanisms, and there is a different set that is differentiated. Objective markers can be broadly classified as emphasizing stativity of research results, separating research subjects from research results, and generalizing research contents. Sustainable expressions and noun phrases emphasize statehood, and non-inhabited expressions, passive expressions, and self-quotations are maintained in the distance between the claimant and the writer, and the pluralization through first-person pronouns and suffixes contributes to generalization. In the case of the learner, the non-inhuman expression of the quotation type appears to be very less compared to the maw speaker, which could be due to the lack of recognition of the citation method of the Korean academic text. Next, in the generalization of the research contents, the expression of 'we' was very less compared to the maw speakers.

• MALSORI
• /
• no.56
• /
• pp.29-47
• /
• 2005

Investigating and comparing English vowels $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$, and their-supposedly- corresponding vowels in Korean /ㅔ/ and /ㅐ/, this study addresses the following questions: Do Koreans pronounce/ㅔ/ and /ㅐ/ differently? Do they pronounce English $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$ differently? And what is the relationship between the Korean vowels and the English vowels? Is the conventional correspondence (/ㅔ:${\varepsilon}/$, and /ㅐ/:${\ae)/$ appropriate? The results showed that 24 Korean male college students distinguish neither Korean /ㅔ/ and /ㅐ/ nor English $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$, thus suggesting that their inability to distinguish the two vowels in their native tongue has an effect on their production of the English vowels. While not distinguishable within a language, Korean /ㅔ/ and /ㅐ/ still form a separate group from English $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$. But Korean-Produced $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$ are significantly different from American-produced $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/:$ Korean-produced $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$ have much lower F1 and F2 than American-produced counterparts. Accordingly it is advised that, in learning English pronunciation, Korean students should be instructed to take the English vowel system as a separate system from Korean one, and thus, not to substitute Korean vowels for English vowels. And students should be provided with specific instructions on the articulatory differences between English vowels and Korean vowels. For example, Cey should be instructed to lower their jaws more for English $/{\varepsilon}/\;and\;/{\ae}/$ than for Korean /ㅔ/ and /ㅐ/.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.21-31
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study is to find the influence of Chinese falling-rising tone on the pitch pattern of corresponding partly-different-form-same-meaning Sino-Korean words delivered by Chinese learners of Korean and to examine how the falling-rising tone of corresponding Chinese words affects the pitch patterns of Sino-Korean words. The scope of this research is limited to Chinese learners of Korean, especially on two groups of Sino-Korean words - AB:CB type and AB:AC type that the are second-most frequently occuring different-form-same-meaning Sino-Korean words. In this study, Chinese learners pronounced both Chinese words and corresponding Sino-Korean words. Learners' pitch patterns were recorded and analyzed using software and compared with the tone of corresponding Chinese words. Experimental results showed that AB:CB type Sino-Korean words were not affected by Chinese 'falling-rising tone - high and level tone'. As well as AB:CB type, experimental results showed there were no significant influence on the pitch pattern of AB:AC type Sino-Korean words by Chinese falling-rising tone. But it was clear that Chinese learners' made pitch errors on both AB:CB type and AB:AC type Sino-Korean words. In conclusion, the Chinese learners' pitch patterns of partly-different-form-same-meaning Sino-Korean words are different from Korean native speakers', but their pitch errors cannot be attributed to Chinese falling-rising tone.

• Journal of KIISE
• /
• v.44 no.10
• /
• pp.1087-1093
• /
• 2017

Educating foreigners in Korean language is attracting increasing attention with the growing number of foreigners who want to learn Korean or want to reside in Korea. Existing spell checkers mostly focus on native Korean speakers, so they are inappropriate for foreigners. In this paper, we propose a correction method for the Korean language that reflects the contextual characteristics of Korean and writing characteristics of foreigners. Our method can extract frequently used expressions by Koreans by constructing syllable reverse-index for eojeol bi-gram extracted from corpus as correction candidates, and generate ranked Korean corrections for foreigners with upgraded edit distance calculation. Our system provides a user interface based on keyboard hooking, so a user can easily use the correction system along with other applications. Our system improves the detection rate for foreign language users by about 45% compared to other systems in foreign language writing environments. This will help foreign users to judge and correct their own writing errors.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.151-163
• /
• 2015

In this study, we aim to describe kinematic characteristics of Korean /l/-flapping in two speech rates (fast vs. comfortable). Production data was collected from seven native speakers of Seoul Korean (four females and three males) using electromagnetic midsagittal articulometry (EMMA), which provided two dimensional data on the x-y plane. We examined kinematic properties of the vertical/horizontal tongue tip gesture, the vertical/horizontal (rear) tongue body gesture, and the jaw gesture in an /i/-/i/ context. Gestural landmarks of the vertical tongue tip gesture are directly measured. This serves as the actual anchoring time points to which relevant measures of other trajectories referred. The study focuses on velocity profiles, closing/opening spatiotemporal properties, constriction duration, and constriction minima were analyzed. The results are summarized as follows. First, gradiently distributed spatiotemporal values of the vertical tongue tip gesture were on a continuum. This shows more of a reduction in fast speech rate, but no single instance of categorical reduction (deletion). Second, Korean /l/-flapping predominantly exhibited a backward sliding tongue tip movement, in 83% of production, which is apparently distinguished from forward sliding movement in English. Lastly, there was an indication of vocalic reduction in fast rate, truncating spatial displacement of the jaw and the tongue body, although we did not observe positional variations with speech rate. The present study shows that Korean /l/-flapping is characterized by mixed articulatory properties with respect to flapping sounds of other languages such as English and Xiangxiang Chinese. Korean /l/ flapping demonstrates a language-universal property, such as the gradient nature of its flapping sounds that is compatible with other languages. On the other hand, Korean /l/-flapping also shows a language-particular property, particularly distinguished from English, in that a backward gliding movement occurs during the tongue tip closing movement. Although, there was no vocalic reduction in V2 observed in terms of jaw and tongue body height, spatial displacement of these articulators still suggests truncation in fast speech rate.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.17-26
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to reveal how Vietnamese adult learners at three different proficiency levels perceive Korean word-initial obstruents and whether errors can be corrected through perceptual training. To this end, 105 Vietnamese beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners were given perceptual training on Korean word-initial. The training materials were created by actively utilizing Korean minimal pairs as natural stimuli recorded by native speakers. Learners in the experimental group performed five 20-40 minute self-directed perceptual training sessions over a period of approximately two weeks, while learners in the control group only participated in the pretest and posttest. The results showed a significant improvement in the perception of sounds that were difficult to distinguish before training, and both beginners and advanced learners benefited from the training. This study confirmed that large-scale perceptual training can play an important role in helping Vietnamese learners learn the appropriate acoustic cues to distinguish different sounds in Korean.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2022

The Korean polysemic ending '-(eu)lgeol' can has two different meanings, 'guess' and 'regret'. These are expressed by different boundary-tone types: a rising tone for guess, a falling one for regret. Therefore the sentence-final boundary-tone type is the most salient prosodic feature. However, besides tone type, the pitch difference between the final and penultimate syllables of '-(eu)lgeol' can also affect semantic discrimination. To investigate this aspect, we conducted a perception test using two sentences that were morphologically and syntactically identical. These two sentences were spoken using different boundary-tone types by a Korean native speaker. From these two sentences, the experimental stimuli were generated by artificially raising or lowering the pitch of the boundary syllable by 1Qt while fixing the pitch of the penultimate syllable and boundary-tone type. Thirty Korean native speakers participated in three levels of perceptual test, in which they were asked to mark whether the experimental sentences they listened to were perceived as guess or regret. The results revealed that regardless of boundary-tone types, the larger the pitch difference between the final and penultimate syllable in the positive direction, the more likely it is perceived as guess, and the smaller the pitch difference in the negative direction, the more likely it is perceived as regret.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.11-25
• /
• 2022

From simultaneous recordings of the external photoglottography, intra-oral air pressure (P_io), airflow and acoustic data from four native Seoul Korean speakers (2 male and 2 female), we have found that the two fricatives are not significantly different in glottal opening peak and airflow peak height either word-initially or word-medially and that the duration of aspiration is significantly reduced in word-medial /s/, compared to those in word-initial /s/, not in /s'/. We have also found that the duration of a high P_io plateau is significantly longer in /s/ than in /s'/ both word-initially and word-medially and that airflow resistance (R=P_io/U) at the onset and offset of a P_io plateau and at the time of airflow peak height is significantly higher in /s'/ than in /s/ across the contexts. However, the differences in P_io peak and F0 are not significant. In addition, the transition time to reach airflow peak height from the offset of a P_io plateau is found to be significantly longer in /s/ than /s'/ in both word-initial and word-medial positions. No significant differences in glottal opening peak and airflow peak height confirm that /s/ is specified as [-spread glottis] like /s'/. As for the other significant differences, we propose that /s/ is [-tense], and /s'/ [+tense].

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.23-31
• /
• 2018

In this study, we examined how the upper and lower lips articulate to produce labial /p/. Using electromagnetic midsagittal articulography, we collected flesh-point tracking movement data from eight native speakers of Seoul Korean (five females and three males). Individual articulatory movements in /p/ were examined in terms of minimum vertical upper lip position, maximum vertical lower lip position, and corresponding vertical upper lip position aligned with maximum vertical lower lip position. Using linear mixed-effect models, we tested two factors (word boundary [across-word vs. within-word] and speech rate [comfortable vs. fast]) and their interaction, considering subjects as random effects. The results are summarized as follows. First, maximum lower lip position varied with different word boundaries and speech rates, but no interaction was detected. In particular, maximum lower lip position was lower (e.g., less constricted or more reduced) in fast rate condition and across-word boundary condition. Second, minimum lower lip position, as well as lower lip position, measured at the time of maximum lower lip position only varied with different word boundaries, showing that they were consistently lower in across-word condition. We provide further empirical evidence of lower lip movement sensitive to both different word boundaries (e.g., linguistic factor) and speech rates (e.g., paralinguistic factor); this supports the traditional idea that the lower lip is an actively moving articulator. The sensitivity of upper lip movement is also observed with different word boundaries; this counters the traditional idea that the upper lip is the target area, which presupposes immobility. Taken together, the lip aperture gesture is a good indicator that takes into account upper and lower lip vertical movements, compared to the traditional approach that distinguishes a movable articulator from target place. Respective of different speech rates, the results of the present study patterned with cross-linguistic lenition-related allophonic variation, which is known to be more sensitive to fast rate.