• Speech Sciences
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• v.1
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• pp.83-101
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• 1997

This paper aims at exploring a putative positional neutralization produced at the phonetics/phonology interface. It was designed to determine whether Korean intervocalic laryngeal consonants are phonetically distant from geminates, plain consonants, or laryngeal consonants in consonant clusters. It was found that the contrast between laryngeal singletons and geminates was neutralized intervocalically, and that both of these were patterned with heteroganic consonant sequences rather than with plain singletons.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2002

This study examines the effect of laryngeal consonants of Korean on prosodic domain-initial strengthening. Keating, Cho, Fougeron & Hsu (1999), Fougeron & Keating (1996), and Hsu & Jun (1998) found that consonants at the beginnings of larger phrases are more constricted than consonants at the beginnings of smaller phrases. Korean laryngeal consonants pose a counter-example to the general pattern of domain-initial strengthening since tense and aspirated consonants are longer word-medially than word-initially. Previous work on domain-initial strengthening focused on domain-initial consonants at different prosodic domains. This study shows that acoustic cues that are not domain-edge also function to demarcate prosodic structure when the domain-initial consonant is laryngeal: VOT for an aspirated consonant and duration of V2 for a tense consonant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 1997

There are two types of phonetic study, acoustic and physiologic, for differentiating the three manner categories of Korean stop consonants. On the physiologic studies, there are endoscopic, electromyographic(EMG), electroglottographic(EGG) and aerodynamic studies. In this study, I tried to investigate general features of Korean stops using EGG study for the open quotient of vocal fold and baseline shift during speech, and aerodynamic characteristics for e subglottal air pressure, air flow and glottal resistance at consonants. On the aerodynamic study, the glottalized and aspirated stops may be characterized by e increasing subglottal pressure comparing with lenis stop at consonants. The airflow is largest in the aspirated stops followed by lenis stops and glottalized. The glottal airway resistance (GAR) showed highest in the glottalized followed by the lenis, but lowest in e aspirated during e production of consonants, and showed highest in e aspirated, but low in the glottalized and lenis during the production of vowel. The glottal resistance at consonant showed significant difference among consonants and significant interaction between subject and types of consonant. The glottal resistance at vowel showed significant difference among consonants, and e interaction occured between subject and types of consonant. The electroglottography(EGG) has been used for investigating e functioning of e vocal folds during its vibration. The EGG should be related to the patterns of the vocal fold vibration during phonation in characterizing the temporal patterns of each vibratory cycle. The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamic change of EGG waveforms during continuous speech. The dynamic changes of EGG waveforms fir the three-way distinction of Korean stops were characterized that the aspirated stop appears to be characterized by largest open quotient and smallest glottal contact area of the vocal folds in e initial portion of vocal fold vibration ; the lenis stop by moderate open quotient and glottal contact area ; but the glottalized stop by smallest open quotient and largest glottal contact area. There may be close relationship between the OQ(open quotient) in the initial voice onset and the glottal width at the time of consonant production, the larger glottal width just before vocal fold vibration results in the smaller OQ of the vocal fold vibration in the initial voice onset. The EGG changes of baseline shift during continuous speech production were characterized by the different patterns for the three types of Korean consonants. The small and less stiffness change of baseline shift was found for the lenis and the glottalized, and the largest and stiffest change was found for the aspirated. On the baseline shift for the initial voice onset, they showed so similar patterns with for the consonant production, larger changed in the aspirated. for the lenis and the glottalized during the initial voice onset, three subjects showed individual difference each other. I suggest at s characteristics were strongly related with articulatory activity of vocal tract for the production of consonant, especially for the aspirated stop. The suspecting factors to affect EGG waveforms are glottal width, vertical laryngeal movement and the intrapharyngeal pressure to neighboring tissue during connected spech. So the EGG may be an useful method to describe laryngeal activity to classify pulsing conditions of the larynx during speech production, and EGG research can be controls for monitoring the vocal tract articulation, although above factors to affect EGG would have played such a potentially role on vocal fold vibratory behavior obtained using consonant production.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.157-177
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• 1998

An electroglottography (EGG) was used to investigate the function of the vocal folds during their vibration. In this study, four Korean native speakers and 10 vocal polyp patients were selected. To investigate the dynamic change of EGG waveforms for the three-way distinction of Korean stops, a DSP-Sona graph model 5500, a Rino- Laryngeal stroboscope, a CSL model 4300B and a Laryngograph were used. An EGG Model 4338 was used to exam the vocal polyp of patients' voices during high, low, comfortable pitch production. The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of Korean stop consonants in relation to pitch and to observe laryngeal movement during vocal fold vibration and speech production. The basic data accumulated during this research can be applied in clinical treatment. The results are as follows: on the Korean stop consonants, the aspirated stop is the highest in the GOT and PC1. On the angle of vowel contour, the angle of lenis is smaller than the angle of heavily aspirated and glottalized stops. The fundamental frequency is lowest at the lenis stop, In vocal polyp patients', the low pitch range is smaller than in normal speakers'. The pitch break and the vocal fry were observed. The jitter and OQ value are higher in vocal polyp patients than in those of normal speakers'.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.109-118
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• 2010

Using a speeded classification task (Garner, 1978), we investigated the perceptual interaction of distinctive features in Korean consonants. The main questions of this study were whether listeners can perceptually identify the component features that make up complex consonant sounds, whether these features are processed independently or dependently and whether there is a systematic hierarchy in their dependency. Participants were asked to classify syllables based on their difference in distinctive features in the task. Reaction times for this task were also gathered. For example, participants classified spoken syllables /ta/ and /pa/ as one category and /$t^ha$/ and /$p^ha$/ as another in terms of aspiration condition. In terms of articulation, participants classified /ta/ and /$t^ha$/ as one category and /pa/ and /$p^ha$/ as another. We assumed that the difference between their RTs represents their interdependency. We compared the laryngeal features and place features (Experiment 1), resonance features and place features (Experiment 2), and manner features and laryngeal features (Experiment 3). The results showed that distinctive features were not perceived in a completely independent way, but they had an asymmetric and hierarchical interdependency. The laryngeal features were found to be more independent compared to place and manner features. We discuss these results in the context of perceptual basis in phonology.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2009

We investigated the perceptual structure of Korean consonants by analyzing the confusion among consonants in various vowel contexts. The 36 CV syllable types combined by 18 consonants and 2 vowels (/i/ and /u/) were presented with masking noises or in degraded intensity. The confusion data were analyzed by the INDSCAL (Individual Difference Scaling), ADCLUS (Additive Clustering) and the probability of the transmitted information. The results were compared with those of a previous study with /a/ vowel context (Bae and Kim, 2002). The overall results showed that the laryngeal features-aspiration, lax and tense-are the most salient features in the perception of Korean consonant regardless of vowel contexts, but the perceptual saliency of place features varies across vowel conditions. In high vowel (front and back vowel) contexts, sibilant consonants were perceptually salient compared to in low vowel contexts. In back vowel contexts, grave (labial and velar) consonants were perceptually salient. These findings imply that place features and vowel features strongly interact in speech perception as well as in speech production. All statistical measures from our confusion data ensured that the perceptual structure of Korean consonants correspond to the hierarchical structure suggested in the feature geometry (Clements, 1991). We discuss the link between speech perception and production as the basis of phonology.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.98-102
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• 2006

Background and Objectives : Voice onset time(VOT) is defined as the time interval from oral release of a stop consonant to the onset of glottal pulsing in the following vowel. VOT is a temporal characteristics of stop consonants that reflects the complex timing of glottal articulation relative to supraglottal articulation. Stop consonants are characterized by creation of a pressure difference across a complete occlusion in the vocal tract, followed by a sudden release 'burst' due to opening that occlusion. The objects of this study is to evaluate a usefulness of voice onset time in the assessment of voice disorderd patients. Subjects : Subjects were 20 adults with normal voice and with benign laryngeal disorders. Subjects with voice disorders represented the following vocal pathologies : vocal polyp, vocal nodule, Reinke's edema and unilateral vocal fold paralysis(UVFP). Control subjects were matched for age (21-40 yews old) and sex(male) with the voice disorders subjects and had normal vocal qualities with no history of voice disorders. Methods : Each voice-disordered and matched control subject read the test passages containing three types of Korean bilabial consonants. VOT measures were made for the initial $/p/p^h/\;and\;/p'/$. VOT was measured using acoustic waveform or wide band spectrogram. Results : For each voiceless stop consonants, there was a significant difference in VOT between the voice disordered and normal subjects. The mean VOTs of the lax stops in UVFP was significantly shorter than those of control subjects in the UVFP. The mean VOTs of the aspirated stops in the vocal polyp and nodule were longer than those of control subjects, but not significant. The mean VOTs of the glottalized in voice disordered groups were longer than those of control subjects, and significant statistically in the UVFP. Conclusions : VOT may be a clinically useful acoustic parameter in the assessment of voice disordered patients, especially in the unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2005

It is known that Korean stop consonants in syllable-initial position are of three types : lax, aspirated and forced (or unaspirated). In syllable-final position, however, these three different types are merged to a single type with the same place of articulation, although the original three-way distinction is preserved in Korean orthographic (Hangul) system. Thus the syllable-final stops are phonetically realized as voiceless "applosives" which are characterized by the absence of oral release. The aim of the present study is to investigate the laryngeal adjustments for these syllable-final stops in various phonological conditions by using fiberscope, and, is to further investigate electromyographically the laryngeal adjustments for Korean stops both in the syllable-initial and final positions in various phonological conditions. The results can be summarized as follows : 1. In the case of syllable-initial stops, the glottal widths in each three types of the Korean stops during the articulatory closure are clearly different. And the pattern of thyroarytenoid(VOC) activity appeared to characterize the three different types of Korean stops. 2. The basic laryngeal feature of the Korean syllable-final applosives is characterized by a small degree of glottal opening which begins at or slightly after the oral closure. 3. In the case, syllable-final stop followed by the copula "ita", the syllable- final stop is pronounced as the stop consonant at the initial position of the following syllable containing the vowel[i], the underlying features of three-way distinction for the stops in the Korean orthographic(Hangul) system being manifested at the laryngeal adjustment. 4. In the case of the final applosives followed by the initial stops and fricatives, the laryngeal feature of the final applosives appears to be assimilated by that of the following consonant irrespective of the difference in the place of articulation, as far as the glottal abduction/adduction is concerned. It is clearly demonstrated in the case of syllable-initial stop that thyoarytenoid(VOC) activity is suppressed for the production of the stop consonants in question, the degree of which is slightest for the forced type and most marked for the aspirated type, while it is moderate for the lax type.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.57-63
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• 2009

The two specific research questions pursued in this paper are: (i) how Korean speakers perceive Hindi stops in terms of the three laryngeal categories of Korean stops; (ii) how well Korean speakers do with an ABX perception test that utilizes a total of 52 Hindi minimal pairs where all sounds are identical except for the laryngeal features of a stop in each word. A total of 45 university students participated in this experiment. The results showed that (i) Koreans tended to perceive Hindi voiceless unaspirated stops as Korean fortis ones, voiceless aspirated stops as aspirated ones, voiced stops as lenis ones, and breathy stops as aspirated ones, and (ii) Koreans had difficulty in distinguishing between voiceless aspirated and breathy stops in Hindi.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.33-43
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• 2011

The present study investigates supralaryngeal articulatory characteristics of denti-alveolar (coronal) stops /t, $t^h$, $t^*$/ and /n/ in /aCa/ context in Seoul Korean. An Electromagnetic Articulograph (EMA, Carstens) was used to explore kinematics of the consonants by examining the kinematic data of the tongue tip (the primary articulator for the coronal consonants), along with some additional supplementary position data of the tongue body, the tongue dorsum and the jaw. The results showed that the constriction duration was the most robust articulatory correlates of the three-way stop contrast with a pattern of /t/$t^h$/$t^*$/. The contrast was further reinforced by the tongue body position (higher for /$t^h$, $t^*$/) and the tongue tip opening displacement (less displaced for /$t^h$, $t^*$/). The articulation of /n/ was quite similar to that of the lenis /t/ in terms of the constriction duration, and it was different from the oral stops in that it was produced with larger tongue tip displacement and lower jaw position than the oral stops, indicating its weak articulatory nature. The results are also discussed in comparison with those of bilabial stops with implications that the three-way contrast may be kinematically expressed differently depending on the physiological constraints imposed on the primary articulator (the tongue tip versus the lips). The present study, therefore, provides new articulatory (kinematic) data of denti-alveolar consonants in Korean, and demonstrates that the three-way stops, that have been known to differ primarily in their laryngeal settings, are indeed produced with kinematic distinctions at the supralaryngeal level.