• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.39-46
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• 2009

This study compares the perception of English high tense and lax vowels (/i, I, u, $\mho$/) by English speakers and Korean speakers of English. The four vowels were produced in /hVd/ context by a native speaker of English, and each word's vowel duration was manipulated to range from 170ms to 290ms in 30ms increments. Two English speakers and six Korean speakers of English were asked to listen to pairs of tense and lax vowel words with manipulated vowel durations and to identify the pair by choosing either heed-hid or hid-heed for front vowels and either who'd-hood or hood-who'd for back vowels. The results show that English speakers distinguished tense vowels from lax vowels with 100% accuracy regardless of the different durations, compared to 62% accuracy for Korean speakers of English. Most errors occurred for lengthened lax vowels and shortened tense vowels. The results of this study demonstrate that Korean speakers mainly rely on vowel duration as a cue to discriminate the tense and lax vowels. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of this finding are discussed.

• 음성과학
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.19-27
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• 2008

Several studies on the pronunciation of English vowels point out that Korean learners have difficulty distinguishing English tense and lax vowel pairs. The acoustic comparisons of those studies are mostly based on the formant measurement at one time point of a given vowel section. However, the English lax vowels usually show dynamic changes across their syllable peaks and subjects' English levels account for various conflicting results. The purposes of this paper are to compare the temporal duration and dynamic formant tracks of English tense and lax vowel pairs produced by five Korean and five American males. The subjects were graduate students of an American state university. Results showed that both the Korean and American males produced the vowels with comparable durations. The duration of the front tense-lax vowel pair was longer than that of the back vowel pair. From the formant track comparisons, the American males produced the tense and lax pairs much more distinctly than the Korean male speakers. The results suggest that the Korean males should pay attention to the F1 and F2 movements, i.e., the jaw and tongue movements, in order to match those of the American males. Further studies are recommended on the auditorily acceptable ranges of F2 variation for the lax vowels.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2019

This study explored the relationship between accurate vowel production and proficiency levels in L2 English produced by Korean EFL adult learners. To this end, nine English vowels /i, ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʌ, ɔ, ɑ, ʊ, u/ were selected and adjacent vowels paired up (e.g., /i/-/ɪ/, /u/-/ʊ/, /ɛ/-/æ/, /ʌ/-/ɔ/, /ɔ/-/ɑ/). The spectral features of the pairs were measured instrumentally, namely F1 (indicating tongue height) and F2 (indicating tongue backness). Meanwhile, the durations as well as spectral features of the tense and lax counterparts in /i/-/ɪ/ and /u/-/ʊ/ were measured, as both temporal and spectral features are important in distinguishing them. The findings of this study confirm that higher-rated speakers were better able to distinguish the contrasts in the front vowel pairs /i/-/ɪ/ and /ɛ/-/æ/ than lower-rated learners, but in the central and back vowel pairs /u/-/ʊ/and /ʌ/-/ɔ/ (though not /ɔ/-/ɑ/), Korean EFL learners generally showed difficulty distinguishing adjacent vowels with spectral cues. On the other hand, the durations of the tense and lax vowels showed that the lower-rated speakers were less able to use the temporal feature to differentiate tense vowels from their lax counterparts, unlike previous studies that found that in general Korean learners depend excessively on the temporal cue to distinguish tense and lax vowels.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.495-503
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• 2013

21명의 한국인 대학생의 영어모음 발화와 원어민의 발화를 비교하여 두 집단의 음향적 특성을 밝히는 것이 본 연구의 목적이다. 따라서 한국인 영어학습자들의 전반적인 영어 모음의 발화 양상을 알아보기 위하여 11개의 영어모음([i, ɪ, eɪ, ɛ, æ, ɑ, ʌ, ɔ, oʊ, ʊ, u])을 사료로 하여 발화테스트를 실시하였다. 원어민과 한국인 사이의 포먼트값(F1, F2)과 모음의 길이를 비교한 결과 전체적으로는 원어민에 비해 전설 모음에서 한국인이 더 앞쪽에서 발화하고, 또한 모음들을 길게 발화한 특징이 보였다. 특히 긴장과 이완모음의 경우, 원어민은 이 모음들을 발화시 음향적인 단서(F1, F2)와 발화 길이를 모두 사용하여서 음향적으로도 두 모음을 구별하여 발화하였고, 길이에 있어서도 긴장모음을 이완모음 보다 더 길게 발화하여 구별하였다. 반면에, 한국인은 긴장과 이완모음을 구별할 때 음향적인 차이로 구별하지 않고, 긴장모음을 더 길게 발화함으로써 길이로써 긴장과 이완모음을 구별하는 것으로 나타났다. 끝으로 이러한 모든 결과를 종합하여 교육적인 함축점도 논의되었다.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.326-336
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• 2022

본 연구는 한국 대학생들의 미국 영어 모음 발화를 자질적으로 분석하여 한국인의 영어 모음 발화의 특성을 알아보는 것을 목적으로 한다. 즉 영어 모음의 분절음 정확도 뿐만 아니라 혀의 전후설성, 혀높이, 원순성, 긴장성과 같은 모음의 자질적 특성들을 분석하여 한국인 학습자가 비교적 쉽게 습득할 수 있는 자질들과 어려워하는 영어모음의 자질들을 밝히고자 했다. 영어 비전공자 대학생들이 11개의 영어 모음 /i, ɪ, eɪ, ɛ, æ, ɑ, oʊ, ɔ, ʊ, u, ʌ/가 포함된 1음절 영어 단어를 발화한 음성자료를 통해, 분절음 정확도 뿐만 아니라 이를 4개의 모음 자질로 분석하였다. 자질 분석 결과, 모든 모음을 통해 전후설성이 가장 쉽게 발화한 자질로 확인된 반면 혀높이와 긴장성 자질은 발화에 어려움이 있는 자질로 확인되었다. 전반적으로 후설모음과 중저모음이 전설모음과 고모음 보다 혀높이와 원순성 자질에서 발화의 어려움을 나타냈다. 개별모음을 볼 때 이중모음 /eɪ/가 모든 자질에서 가장 높은 정확도를 보여 쉽게 습득되는 모음으로 확인되었다. 반면 /ɑ, ɔ, ʌ/는 혀높이와 원순성에서 공통적으로 발화의 어려움을 보였고 고모음 /i, ʊ, u/는 긴장성 자질에서 어려움을 보였다. 각 자질들 사이의 상관관계를 분석한 결과에서는 혀높이-원순성, 그리고 혀높이-긴장성 두 자질쌍이 강한 상관성을 나타냈다. 이와 같은 연구 결과를 바탕으로 실제 교실 학습에 적용할 수 있는 교육적인 함축점도 논의되었다.

• 대한음성학회지:말소리
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• 제33_34호
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

Korean stop consonants are well known for their tripple distinction. In word initial position lax, tense and aspirated consonants are all voiceless. They are differentiated by the degree of tension, aspiration and VOT(voice onset time). But in intervocalic position, lax consonants become voiced. In this study I compare the acoustic features of Korean intervocalic lax and tense stops. The closure duration of lax stops is shorter than that of tense consonants. The preceding vowel length is longer in tan than that in tense consonants. I modify the above acoustic characteristics by an experimental methods. For example, I shorten the closure duration of intervocalic tense stops by 5 steps. r also do auditory tests which will show us listener's reaction on the above examples. And do the same job with the preceding vowels. According to the auditory test, the closure duration does an important role in differentiating Korean intervocalic lax and tense stops. But the preceding vowel length has almost nothing to do with the distinction between lax and tense stops. So I conclude that acoustic features also have hierarchy. Some features have categorical characteristics and others don't.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.39-45
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• 2014

This study investigates twenty four Korean females' production of English front vowels focusing on the distinction in /i/ vs /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ vs /${\ae}$/ and formant values of stressed and unstressed vowels compared with those of native English speakers. The Korean learners were asked to read a textbook passage which includes ten sentences including target vowels. The major results indicate that: (1) Korean learners have trouble producing a distinct version (tense and lax) of front vowels in the paragraph reading; (2) The vowel space of the stressed vowels in a paragraph is smaller than that of embedded sentences; and (3) The vowel quality of the unstressed vowels produced by the Korean learners is similar to that of the native English speakers. The findings from this study can be applied to the pronunciation teaching for the Korean learners of English vowels and realization of English stress.

• 음성과학
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.193-206
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• 2001

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate characteristics of English vowels uttered by Korean regional dialect speakers. Ten English mono-syllabic words, and eight Korean mono-syllabic words, were uttered six times by nine female graduate students from three areas: Seoul, Yongnam and Honam. Formant frequencies were measured from sound spectrograms made by the PC Quirer. Results showed that Seoul dialect speakers uttered English vowels more similar to those uttered by English native speakers than did the other dialect speakers. In particular, Yongnam dialect speakers have articulatory problems pronouncing the back vowels(/u/, /$\upsilon$/, /c/), while Honam dialect speakers have problems pronouncing the front vowels(/i/. /I/, /$\varepsilon$/, /$\ae$/). Even though each group has different problems pronouncing English vowels, Korean speakers generally have difficulty in discriminating tense vowels(/i/ and /u/) from the lax vowels(/I/ and /$\upsilon$/). It appears that the width of Korean speakers' articulatory movements is comparatively narrower than those of native English speakers.

• 음성과학
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.7-16
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• 2005

The purpose, this experimental study was to identify pronunciation difficulties between male and female Korean speakers in their articulation of English vowels. Ten English mono-syllabic words were spoken six times by six male and six female college students. Formant frequencies were measured from sound spectrograms made by Pitch Works. Results show that Korean female speakers uttered English vowels more similar to those uttered by English native speakers than did Korean male speakers. While Korean male speakers could not readily distinguish between /i/ and /I/, /u/ and /v/, and /$\epsilon$/ and /ae/, respectively, Korean female speakers had difficulty only with /$\epsilon$/ and /ae/. The tentative results suggests that on the whole Korean speakers have difficulty in discriminating tense vowels from lax vowels, and they also have articulatory problems pronouncing low and back vowels such as /ae/. /a/ and /c/.

• 음성과학
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.99-108
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• 2000

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate characteristics of English vowels as spoken by Korean speakers. Ten English mono-syllabic words were spoken six times by six male college students who were born and raised in Seoul. Formant frequencies were measured from sound spectrograms made by the PC Quirer. Results showed that Korean speakers similarly pronounced /i/ and /I/, /u/ and /$\upsilon$/, and /$\varepsilon$/ and /${\ae}$/ respectively. It seems that Korean speakers can not differentiate tense vowels(/i/, /u/) from lax vowels(/i/, /$\upsilon$/) and pronounce low vowels such as /${\ae}$/, /a/, /c/ clearly. It is necessary that Korean speakers practice the correct movements of the jaw, tongue, and lips when they pronounce English vowels.