• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.17-25
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• 2010

This study explores whether Koreans exploit their native coda-neutralization process when recognizing words in Korean continuous speech. According to the phonological rules in Korean, coda-neutralization process must come before the liaison process, as long as the latter(i.e. liaison process) occurs between 'words', which results in liaison-consonants being coda-neutralized ones such as /b/, /d/, or /g/, rather than non-neutralized ones like /p/, /t/, /k/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, or /s/. Consequently, if Korean listeners use their native coda-neutralization rules when processing speech input, word recognition will be hampered when non-neutralized consonants precede vowel-initial targets. Word-spotting and word-monitoring tasks were conducted in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. In both experiments, listeners recognized words faster and more accurately when vowel-initial target words were preceded by coda-neutralized consonants than when preceded by coda non-neutralized ones. The results show that Korean listeners exploit the coda-neutralization process when processing their native spoken language.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.3-16
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• 2010

This study aims at setting the hierarchy of difficulty of the 7 Korean monophthongs for Mongolian learners of Korean according to Prator's theory based on the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis. In addition to that, it will be shown that the difficulties and errors for Mongolian learners of Korean as a second or foreign language proceed directly from this hierarchy of difficulty. This study began by looking at the speeches of 60 Mongolians for Mongolian monophthongs; data were investigated and analyzed into formant frequencies F1 and F2 of each vowel. Then, the 7 Korean monophthongs were compared with the resultant Mongolian formant values and are assigned to 3 levels, 'same', 'similar' or 'different sound'. The findings in assessing the differences of the 8 nearest equivalents of Korean and Mongolian vowels are as follows: First, Korean /a/ and /$\wedge$/ turned out as a 'same sound' with their counterparts, Mongolian /a/ and /ɔ/. Second, Korean /i/, /e/, /o/, /u/ turned out as a 'similar sound' with each their Mongolian counterparts /i/, /e/, /o/, /u/. Third, Korean /ɨ/ which is nearest to Mongolian /i/ in terms of phonetic features seriously differs from it and is thus assigned to 'different sound'. And lastly, Mongolian /$\mho$/ turned out as a 'different sound' with its nearest counterpart, Korean /u/. Based on these findings the hierarchy of difficulty was constructed. Firstly, 4 Korean monophthongs /a/, /$\wedge$/, /i/, /e/ would be Level 0(Transfer); they would be transferred positively from their Mongolian counterparts when Mongolians learn Korean. Secondly, Korean /o/, /u/ would be Level 5(Split); they would require the Mongolian learner to make a new distinction and cause interference in learning the Korean language because Mongolian /o/, /u/ each have 2 similar counterpart sounds; Korean /o, u/, /u, o/. Thirdly, Korean /ɨ/ which is not in the Mongolian vowel system will be Level 4(Overdifferentiation); the new vowel /ɨ/ which bears little similarity to Mongolian /i/, must be learned entirely anew and will cause much difficulty for Mongolian learners in speaking and writing Korean. And lastly, Mongolian /$\mho$/ will be Level 2(Underdifferentiation); it is absent in the Korean language and doesn‘t cause interference in learning Korean as long as Mongolian learners avoid using it.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.91-99
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• 2014

Speaking styles tend to have an influence on spectral characteristics of produced speech. There are not many studies on the spectral characteristics of speech because of complicated processing of too much spectral data. The purpose of this study was to examine spectral characteristics and formant bandwidths of English vowels produced by nine American males with different speaking styles: clear or conversational styles; high- or low-pitched voices. Praat was used to collect pitch-corrected long-term averaged spectra and bandwidths of the first two formants of eleven vowels in the speaking styles. Results showed that the spectral characteristics of the vowels varied systematically according to the speaking styles. The clear speech showed higher spectral energy of the vowels than that of the conversational speech while the high-pitched voice did the same over the low-pitched voice. In addition, front and back vowel groups showed different spectral characteristics. Secondly, there was no statistically significant difference between B1 and B2 in the speaking styles. B1 was generally lower than B2 when reflecting the source spectrum and radiation effect. However, there was a statistically significant difference in B2 between the front and back vowel groups. The author concluded that spectral characteristics reflect speaking styles systematically while bandwidths measured at a few formant frequency points do not reveal style differences properly. Further studies would be desirable to examine how people would evaluate different sets of synthetic vowels with spectral characteristics or with bandwidths modified.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.199-206
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• 2004

This paper attempts to provide a substantial explanation of different prosodic implementations on segments in English and Spanish, arguing that the phonetic modification invoked by prosody may effectively reflect phonological structure. In English, a high front vowel in accented syllables is acoustically realized as higher F1 and F2 frequencies than in unaccented syllables, due to its more peripheral and sonorous articulation (Harrington et al. 1999). In this paper, an acoustic experiment was conducted to see if such a manner of segmental modification invoked by prosody in English extends to other languages such as Spanish. Results show that relatively more prominent syllables entail higher F1 values as a result of their more sonorous articulation in Spanish, but either front or back vowel does not show a higher F2 or a lower F2 frequency. This is interpreted as an indication that a prosodically prominent syllable entails its vocalic enhancement in both horizontal and vertical dimensions of articulation in English. In Spanish, however, only the vertical dimensional articulation is maximized, resulting in a higher F1. I suggest that this difference may be attributed to the different phonological structures of vowels in English and Spanish, and that sonority expansion alone would be sufficient in the articulation of prosodic prominence as long as the phonological distinction of vowels is well retained.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics T
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• v.35T no.3
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• pp.9-14
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• 1998

The speech recognition on long vowels are carried out by electric circuits. A level compressor is able to transform the wave of voice to serial pulses. The obtained pulses have informations to distinguish the vowels. The sampling of the pulses is carried out by the register which picks up a series of serial signals in a pitch of a vowel as an unit. The timing control pulses such as sampling pulses are generated by using peak pulses in the speech wave. The parallel data in the register assign the phonetic symbol by means of the decision making circuit which carries out the IF-THEN rule.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.112-119
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• 2011

This study presents experiments which examined the role of amplitude and fundamental frequency (f0) in the phonetic perception of short versus long stop length contrasts in Japanese (e.g., [t] vs. [tt]). Stop length contrasts are normally characterized by differences in the duration of stop closures. However, closure duration can be unreliable as a perceptual cue when one considers variability in the rate at which people speak. Acoustically, the amplitude and f0 of the vowel following stop consonants are known to covary with the length distinction of stops in Japanese. Given this fact, the current study examined amplitude and f0 as potential secondary cues to the distinction. The results indicate that even though both amplitude and f0 are robust correlates, Japanese listeners do not use these cues in categorizing short versus long stops.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2015

AMI / HDB-3 method used a scrambling technique is used primarily for long distance data transmission line encoding. In this paper, information communication code standard (KS X 1001; 2014 confirmation), as defined in Hangul Character Code HDLC Flag bit or character stuffing at the data link layer and physical layer with respect to the code set for Hangul AMI / HDB-3 the code set for the new system to increase the data transmission efficiency Hangul consonant and vowel tables presented in terms of scrambling. The result of the existing system and the code set ($4{\times}4$) bit source coding rules for comparing the frequency of use Hangul consonant and vowel tables and statistics showed that about 22.01% of the data processing efficiency is improved.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.73-80
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• 2020

In this study, a method for measuring the jitter component in continuous speech is presented. In the conventional jitter measurement method, pitch variabilities are commonly measured from the sustained vowels. In the case of continuous speech, such as a spoken sentence, distortion occurs with the existing measurement method owing to the influence of prosody information according to the sentence. Therefore, we propose a method to reduce the pitch fluctuations of prosody information in continuous speech. To remove this pitch fluctuation component, a curve representing the fluctuation is obtained via polynomial interpolation for the pitch track in the analysis interval, and the shift is removed according to the curve. Subsequently, the variability of the pitch frequency is obtained by a method of measuring jitter from the trajectory of the pitch from which the shift is removed. To measure the effects of the proposed method, parameter values before and after the operations are compared using samples from the Kay Pentax MEEI database. The statistical analysis of the experimental results showed that jitter components from the continuous speech can be measured effectively by proposed method and the values are comparable to the parameters of sustained vowel from the same speaker.

• MALSORI
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• no.38
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• pp.113-124
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• 1999

It is well known that Japanese prosodic structure assumes mora below the syllable tier. Syllables with V or CV structure are counted as having one morn whereas those with coda consonants /-pp, -tt, -kk, -ss, -N/ or long vowels are counted as having two morns in Japanese. This study measured the acoustic duration of these special moras ('tokusyuhaku') produced by Tokyo dialect speakers to see if they are isochronic with V or CV. It also examined the production of Korean(Seoul/Kyungsang dialect) and Chinese native speakers loaming Japanese as a second language to examine how the learners' first language influence their second language. Finally, it examined how speakers of the Akita dialect, which is blown as a syllabeme dialect in Japanese, produced them. The results showed that intra-speaker variation as well as inter-speaker variation was observed in the production by Akita dialect speakers. Production of native speakers of Chinese and Kyungsang dialect of Korean -- which have vowel length contrast in their phonological systems -- showed a similar result to Tokyo dialect speakers, which implies the influence of the learners' first language on the acquisition of the second language.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.367-371
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• 1996

Most Koreans agree that Korean traditional singing voice has a very peculiar sound comparing to Western singing voice. The goal of this paper is to investigate the acoustic characteristics of Korean traditional singing voice called 'Pansori' Materials are analyzed from 3male professional singers and 4 female professional singers. Their singing was compared with their own conversation and other non-singers' conversation. Long term average spectra indicated that all the singers showed a much less spectral tilt than non-singers. The phenomenon was prevailing for professional singers not only in their singing, but also in their conversation. This suggests that it is not the result of a temporary effort but it may involve a certain permanent change in their physiological configuration. (To assess this hypothesis, voice source should be looked at directly. Therefore, in further research, using Rothenberg mask (Rothenberg, 1973) is strongly recommended.) In addition to LTA, individual vowel formants will be studied later.