• MALSORI
• /
• no.63
• /
• pp.85-100
• /
• 2007

This paper aims to propose how to extract intonation patterns using Momel, a pitch stylization algorithm, and to present results of analyzing speech corpora in comparison with those in earlier researches. Two speech corpora are used: one is the sound files obtained from the K-ToBI web site, and the other consists of 80 passages pronounced by 4 speakers (2 male and 2 female). The results show that Momel provides significant pitch targets which can be labeled as H and L tones within prosodic units such as Accentual Phrase (AP) and Intonation Phrase (IP). The resulting AP patterns and IP boundary tone patterns correspond to those in earlier researches. Thus, this study will contribute to the study of intonation as well as to the development of automatic intonation labeling systems.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2023

This study attempted to test the hypothesis that Korean evaluators can score L2 speech appropriately, even when speech rate features are unavailable. Two perception experiments-preliminary and main-were conducted sequentially. The purpose of the preliminary experiment was to categorize English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) speakers into two groups-advanced learners and lower-level learners-based on the proficiency scores given by five human raters. In the main experiment, a set of stimuli was prepared such that the speech rate of all data tokens was modified to have a uniform speech rate. Ten human evaluators were asked to score the stimulus tokens on a 5-point scale. These scores were statistically analyzed to determine whether there was a significant difference in utterance production between the two groups. The results of the preliminary experiment confirm that higher-proficiency learners speak faster than lower-proficiency learners. The results of the main experiment indicate that under controlled speech-rate conditions, human raters can appropriately assess learner proficiency, probably thanks to the linguistic features that the raters considered during the evaluation process.

• 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.

• International Journal of Contents
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.48-52
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine 30 logical connectors in the essay writing of Korean university students for comparison with the use in similar types of native English writing. The main questions addressed were as follows: Do Korean EFL students tend to over- or underuse logical connectors? What types of connectors differentiate Korean learners from native use? To answer these questions, EFL learner data were compared with data from native speakers using computerized corpora and linguistic software tools to speed up the initial stage of the linguistic analysis. The analysis revealed that Korean EFL learners tend to overuse logical connectors in the initial position of the sentence, and that they tend to overuse additive connectors such as 'moreover', 'besides', and 'furthermore', whereas they underuse contrastive connectors such as 'yet' and 'instead'. On the basis of the results of this study, some pedagogical implications are made concerning the need for teaching of the semantic, stylistic, and syntactic behavior of logical connectors.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.79-87
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study aimed to examine the perceptual pattern of the Korean coda consonants by Chinese learners of Korean. Given that Mandarin allows only two nasals (/n, ŋ/) in the coda position, it was predicted that Chinese learners of Korean had difficulty in discriminating Korean coda consonants. In the experiment, the subjects were 21 beginner-level Chinese learners of Korean. They participated in the discrimination task four times a year in which they were asked to choose the right Korean coda consonants after listening the word from Korean native speakers. The results demonstrated that 1) Chinese learners of Korean improved their perception of the Korean coda consonants. 2) But Chinese learners of Korean performed differently according to the type of Korean coda consonants. Korean consonants /n, p, k, m/ showed significant differences, but /l, ŋ, t/ did not.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.24
• /
• pp.120-131
• /
• 2011

South Africa is a multiracial country where different cultures and languages coexist. Culture can be conveyed through language. Language conditioning is also social conditioning, and through words we make sense of our own and others' experience. In this paper I investigate the meaning of two culturally significant words: (English) peace and (African) ubuntu. Data findings will show how L2 speakers of English, when asked to define peace, promptly operate a process of transfer of the meaning from their mother-tongue Xhosa equivalent - uxolo - to its English equivalent. Ubuntu, an African word which encompasses traditional African values, has no counterpart in English. I will also argue how, in the ongoing process of globalisation, English is playing a predominant role in promoting cultural homogenization.

• Korean Linguistics
• /
• v.63
• /
• pp.103-132
• /
• 2014

This study compares various speech rates of Korean learners with those of native Korean. Speech data were collected from 34 native Koreans and 33 Korean learners (19 Chinese and 14 Japanese). Each participant recorded a 9 syllabled Korean sentence at three different speech rate types. A total of 603 speech samples were analyzed by speech rate types (normal, slow, and fast), native languages (Korean, Chinese, Japanese), and learners' proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced). We found that learners' L1 background plays a role in categorizing different speech rates in the L2 (Korean), and also that the leaners' proficiency correlates with the increase of speaking rate regardless of speech rate categories. More importantly, faster speech rate values found in the advanced level of learners do not necessarily match to the native speakers' speech rate categories. This means that learning speech rate categories can be more complex than we think of proficiency or fluency. That is, speech rate categories may not be acquired automatically during the course of second language learning, and implicit or explicit exposures to various rate types are necessary for second language learners to acquire a high level of communicative skills including speech rate variation. This paper discusses several pedagogical implications in terms of teaching pronunciation to second language learners.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.41-45
• /
• 2017

Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized by adding an ammonium hydroxide to a mixed solution of iron (II) and (III) chlorides. A silicon surfactant of ${\alpha},{\omega}$-(3-aminopropyl)polydimethylsiloxane was adsorbed on the particles as dispersant and a polydimethylsiloxane polymer was used to prepare ferrofluids of silicone oil base. Fluorinated surfactants of anionic ammoniated perfluoroalkyl sulfonamide and nonionic fluoroaliphatic polymeric esters were applied to the particles and a perfluoropolyether was used to prepare ferrofluids of fluorine oil base. The experimental conditions were used for preparing the ferrofluids with concentrations of 200, 300 and 400 mg/mL, and density, magnetization and viscosity of the products were characterized. The density values increased in proportion to the concentration, indicating 1.11-1.27 g/mL for silicone-oil-based fluids and 1.95-2.10 g/mL for fluorine-oil-based fluids in the range of 200-400 mg/mL. The saturation magnetization of the silicone-oil-based and fluorine-oil-based fluids indicated 14.7, 24.4, and 30.7 mT and 15.8, 23.3, and 33.7 mT for 200, 300, and 400 mg/mL, respectively, depending on the content of magnetic particles in the fluid. The viscosity of the silicone-oil-based ferrofluids was highly stable compared to that of the fluorine-oil-based with increasing temperatures. The ferrofluids are usually applied to seals and speakers with the silicone base and to seals with the fluorine base.

• 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.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.43-51
• /
• 2013

English native listeners have a tendency to treat strong syllables in a speech stream as the potential initial syllables of new words, since the majority of lexical words in English have a word-initial stress. The current study investigates whether Korean (L1) - English (L2) late bilinguals perceive strong syllables in English continuous speech as word onsets, as English native listeners do. In Experiment 1, word-spotting was slower when the word-initial syllable was strong, indicating that Korean listeners do not perceive strong syllables as word onsets. Experiment 2 was conducted in order to avoid any possibilities that the results of Experiment 1 may be due to the strong-initial targets themselves used in Experiment 1 being slower to recognize than the weak-initial targets. We employed the gating paradigm in Experiment 2, and measured the Isolation Point (IP, the point at which participants correctly identify a word without subsequently changing their minds) and the Recognition Point (RP, the point at which participants correctly identify the target with 85% or greater confidence) for the targets excised from the non-words in the two conditions of Experiment 1. Both the mean IPs and the mean RPs were significantly earlier for the strong-initial targets, which means that the results of Experiment 1 reflect the difficulty of segmentation when the initial syllable of words was strong. These results are consistent with Kim & Nam (2011), indicating that strong syllables are not perceived as word onsets for Korean listeners and interfere with lexical segmentation in English running speech.