• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2020

This paper quantitatively calculated the speech frequency of the discourse markers 'a', 'eo', and 'eum' and the speech duration of these discourse markers using the Seoul Corpus, a spontaneous speech corpus. The sound durations were confirmed with Praat, the Seoul Corpus was analyzed with Emeditor, and the results were presented by statistical analysis with R. Based on the corpus analysis, the study investigated whether a particular factor is preferred by speakers of particular categories. The most prominent feature of the corpus is that the sound durations of female speakers were longer than those of men when using the 'eum' discourse marker in a final position. In age-related variables, teenagers uttered 'a' more than 'eo' in an initial position when compared to people in their 40s. This study is significant because it has quantitatively analyzed the discourse markers 'a', 'eo', and 'eum' by gender and age. In order to continue the discussion, more precise research should be conducted considering the context. In addition, similarities can be found in "e" and "ma" in Japanese(Watanabe & Ishi, 2000) and 'uh', 'um' in English(Gries, 2013). afterwards, a study to identify commonalities and differences can be predicted by using the cross-linguistic analysis of the discourse.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference of vowel duration due to the voicing of word-final consonants in English and its relation to the types of word-final consonants (stops vs. fricatives), (partial) devoicing, and stop releasing. Addtionally, this study attempts to interpret the findings from the functional view that the vowels before voiced consonants are produced with a longer duration in order to enhance the salience of the voicing of word-final consonants. This study conducted a recording experiment with English native speakers, and measured the vowel duration, the degree of (partial) devoicing of word-final voiced consonants and the release of word-final stops. First, the results showed that the ratio of the duration difference was not influenced by the types of word-final consonants. Second, it was revealed that the higher the degree of (partial) devoicing of word-final voiced consonants, the longer vowel duration before word-final voiced consonants, which was compatible with the prediction based on the functional view. Lastly, the ratio of the duration difference was greater when the word-final stops were uttered with the release compared to when uttered without the release, which was not consistent with the functional view. These results suggest that it is not sufficient enough to explain the voicing effect by its function of distinguishing the voicing of word-final consonants.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-38
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• 2017

This study investigates non-native speakers(NNS) of English use of backchannels with beginner-intermediate learners' use of 'uh', 'um(uhm)', 'and' and 'hm' suggesting a view as a possible pedagogical implication. The initial aim of this study was to learn this phenomenon and observe their conversation patterns to compare with previous studies. Based on the previous findings, the analyzed data using conventional Conversation Analysis (CA) methods indicate the possible presence of L1 topic markers, '-un' and '-nun' in the form of L2 backchannel tokens when uttered by beginning and intermediate level speakers of English and the presences of L2 backchannel tokens appear only in front of noun phrases. Additionally, these same words with these tokens and when translated back to Korean also require topic markers of '-un' and '-nun.' Finally, This study discusses possible pedagogical implications with the initial analysis of backchannel tokens for Korean EFL learners. In addition, the ultimate goal of this study is to refine this analysis with follow up experiments to validate this investigation into a working hypothesis generating discussions of this backchannel phenomenon from being viewed as a hindrance to as an positive influence that needs to be understood.

• Lingua Humanitatis
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• v.5
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• pp.75-92
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• 2003

One of the distinctive features of Korean language is that it has a fine hierarchical regimentation of language uses, perhaps finer than English, Chinese or Japanese. If English language uses have a hierarchical structure they are to be thick. You may respond to any of your male colleagues often by saying either "Yes, Sir" or "Yes, John". But Korean speakers attend to the One grades of differences of social positions of a speaker and a hearer and they show the respect of the difference by adding or dropping relevant suffixes of verbs which Korean language has developed. For example, one yew difference would affect how you choose a suffix of verbs you use to speak to your hearer and two year difference often leads to the adoption of still another fitting suffix of the same verb. One year criterion works not only in 3my barracks, school dormitories but also in government offices. business sectors. Korean speaking people have been taught to use this finely regimented hierarchical language. I try, in this paper, to develop the idea that hierarchical regimentation of Korean language uses is not humane. 1 of for the main argument for the thesis as what follows: How could one justify the hierarchical regimentation of a language like Korean\ulcorner Only if there is an essential structure in which the fine grades of differences of social positions of all the people are distinct; The essentialism here involved is not plausible. And I may add that language is to be used fur the purposes of communication, rationalization and expression. If true, language use is a genuine art of liberation or humanization. Any overt hierarchical language tends to damage those purposes and more to enforce those oppressive elements already existing in the community. Then, a hierarchical language is to defeat its own purpose.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.17-25
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• 2023

This study examines the fundamental frequency(f0) distribution of 2,740 Korean speakers in a dialogue speech corpus. Praat and R were used for the collection and analysis of acoustical f0 data after removing extreme values considering the interquartile f0 range of the intonational phrases produced by each individual speaker. Results showed that the average f0 value of all speakers was 185 Hz and the median value was 187 Hz. The f0 data showed a positively skewed distribution of 0.11, and the kurtosis was -0.09, which is close to the normal distribution. The pitch values of daily conversations varied in the range of 238 Hz. Further examination of the male and female groups showed distinct median f0 values: 114 Hz for males and 199 Hz for females. A t-test between the two groups yielded a significant difference. The skewness representing the distribution shape was 1.24 for the male group and 0.58 for the female group. The kurtosis was 5.21 and 3.88 for the male and female groups, and the male group values appeared leptokurtic. A regression analysis between the median f0 and age yielded a slope of 0.15 for the male group and -0.586 for the female group, which indicated a divergent relationship. In conclusion, a normative f0 distribution of different Korean age and sex groups can be examined in the conversational speech corpus recorded by a massive number of participants. However, more rigorous data might be required to define a relation between age and f0 values.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.41-58
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• 2003

Coronal/non-coronal asymmetry refers to the typological trend wherein coronals rather than non-coronals are more likely targets in place assimilation. Although the phenomenon has been accounted for by resorting to the notion of unmarkedness in formalistic approaches to sound patterns, the examination of rules and representations cannot answer why there should be such a process in the first place. Furthermore, the motivation of coronal/non-coronal asymmetry has remained controversial to date even in the field of phonetics. The present study investigated the listeners' perception of coronal and non-coronal stops in the context of $VC_{1}C_{2}V$ after critically reviewing the three types of phonetic accounts for coronal/non-coronal asymmetry, i.e., articulatory, perceptual, and gestural overlap accounts. An experiment was conducted to test whether the phenomenon in question may occur, given the listeners' lack of perceptual ability to identify weaker place cues in VC transitions as argued by Ohala (1990), i.e., coronals have weak place cues that cause listeners' misperception. 5pliced nonsense $VC_{1}C_{2}V$ utterances were given to 20 native speakers of English and Korean. Data analysis showed that majority of the subjects reported $C_{2}\;as\;C_{1}$. More importantly, the place of articulation of C1 did not affect the listeners' identification. Compared to non-coronals, coronals did not show a significantly lower rate of correct identifications. This study challenges the view that coronal/non-coronal asymmetry is attributable to the weak place cues of coronals, providing evidence that CV cues are more perceptually salient than VC cues. While perceptual saliency account may explain the frequent occurrence of regressive assimilation across languages, it cannot be extended to coronal/non-coronal asymmetry.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• spring
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• pp.313-316
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• 2000

원어민이 발성한 영어유음 시료를 사용하여 한국인 영문과와 타학과(비 영문과) 학생들을 대상으로 인지실험을 하였고, 시료의 정확성을 확인하기 위하여 원어민을 또 하나의 피험자 그룹으로 선택하였다. 영문과 피험자의 영어유음 인지결과를 살펴보면 어두$(70\%)$ < 어말$(75\%)$ < 어중$(80\%)$ glt; 연속음$(86\%)$의 순서로 인지율이 높아졌다. 타학과 피험자의 영어유음 인지에서는 어두$(59\%)$< 어말$(66\%)$ glt; 어중$(70\%)$ < 연속음$(72\%)$의 순서로 인지율의 증가를 보였다. 원어민의 영어유음 인지에서는 녹음에 참가하지 않은 다른 원어민을 대상으로 해서 총 평균 $99.6\%$로 거의 완벽한 인지율을 보였다. 그 만금 녹음된 시료가 정확하다는 것을 확인시켜 주었다. 피험자별 그룹에 대한 결과 비교에서는 원어민이 녹음한 발음으로 인지실험을 할 때 타학과$(66.8\%)$ < 영문과$(77.4\%)$< 원어민$(99.6\%)$의 순서로 점차 좋은 인지율을 보였다. 한국인이 발성한 영어유음에 대한 원어민의 인지실험에서는 한국인 영어유음 발음의 정확성을 알아보고자 하는 것이 목적이다. 한국인 발성시료에 대한 원어민의 총인지율은 $68\%$로 원어민의 발성시료에 대한 인지율 $99.6\%$와 비교해볼 때 영문과 녹음자들의 발음 정확도가 높지 못하다는 것을 보여 주었다. 평균/1/ $(79\%)$과 평균/r/$(58\%)$의 인지율을 보게 되면 한국인의 영어유음 발성에 있어서 /r/의 발성이 /1/의 경우보다 문제가 더 심각하다는 것을 알 수 있다. 특히 실험결과는 어두/1/$(87\%)$과 어두/r/$(43\%)$에서 뚜렷한 인지율의 차이를 보여주고 있다.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.17-26
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• 1999

It has been claimed that Korean mid-vocalic voiceless unaspirated lax stops are phonetically realized with voicing throughout the oral closure phase. Acoustic measurements were undertaken to examine the claim with four Korean native speakers using /$V_1CV_2$/ words where the vowel ($V_1\;=\;V_2$) was /i, a, u/ and the C was voiceless unaspirated lax stops /p, t, k/. Findings: (1) During mid-vocalic stops /k/ and /p/ the vowel /u/ was accompanied generally by a significant increase in voice cessation time as percentage of the oral closure interval (PCT) than the vowel /a/, regardless of subjects, whereas in mid-vocalic alveolar stop /t/ the effects of vowels on PCT were subject-dependent, (2) The effects of vowels on PCT were significantly greater in mid-vocalic /k/ than /p/, regardless of subjects, (3) The mean PCT, averaged across six tokens, ranged from 17% to100%, giving overall mean 61% in which the standard deviation was ${\pm}30$, and (4) Overall % of the total of mid-vocalic unaspirated lax stops were produced with a substantial period of devocing and voicing lag. Considering these results, it is difficult to agree with the existing claims that Korean voiceless unaspirated lax stops are phonetically realized with voicing throughout the oral closure phase. Other phonetic variables, including the durations of pre/post-stop vowels, voice onset time, voice cessation time, and the duration of oral closure, were measured.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2024

The Korean three-way stop contrast (lenis, aspirated, fortis) is currently undergoing a sound change, such that the primary cue distinguishing lenis and aspirated stops is shifting from voice onset time (VOT) to F0. Despite recent discussions of this shift, research on voice quality, traditionally considered an additional cue signaling the contrast, remains sparse. This study investigated the extent to which the associated voice quality [as reflected in the acoustic measurements of H1^*-H2^*, H1^*- A1^*, and cepstral peak prominence (CPP)] contributes to the three-way stop contrast, and how the realization is conditioned by prominence- vs. boundary-induced prosodic strengthening amid the ongoing sound change. Results for 12 native Korean speakers indicate that there was a substantial distinction in voice quality among the three stop categories with the breathiness of the vowel being the greatest after the lenis, intermediate after the aspirated, and least after the fortis stops, indicating the role of voice quality in the maintenance of the three-way stop contrast. Furthermore, prosodic strengthening has different effects on the contrast and contributes to the enhancement of the phonological contrast contingent on whether it is induced by prominence or boundary.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.137-147
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the syllable structures of ten Korean numeric sounds produced by ten students. Each sound was normalized by its maximum intensity value and divided into onset, vowel, and coda sections after finding abrupt or visible changes in energy values or cumulative values of lower spectral energy at each pulse point using four Praat scripts. Then, segmental durations and cumulative intensity values of each syllable were obtained to find a statistical summary of the syllable structure. Intensity values at 100 proportional time points were also collected to compare the ten sounds. Results showed as follows: Firstly, there was not much deviation from the grand average duration and intensity for the majority of the sounds except the two diphthongal sounds on which their boundary points varied among the speakers. Secondly, the onset point for the CV or CVC category sounds and the boundary between the vowel and the nasal or lateral sound were easy to identify, which may be automatically traced later. Thirdly, there seems some tradeoff among the sections maintaining the same total duration per each syllable. Further studies on syllables with various onsets or codas would be desirable to make a general statement on the Korean syllable structure.