• MALSORI
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• no.21_24
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• pp.43-89
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• 1992

In this thesis, the prominent aspect of word accent in standard Korean is studied by auditory test and acoustic analysis experiment. The definition of 'accent' is, following Hoyoung Lee's discussion(1990), to be described as 'the means whereby a focused part of an utterance is made to stand out in order to concentrate the hearer's attention on it.' That is to say, the ten of 'accent' may be described in terms of phonological phenomenon and the accented syllable can be phonetically prominent as the result of those phonological process. Prosodic features may have different characteristics in different languages whether they contain linguistically important functions or not. Thus the characteristics of word accent in standard Korean will be determined as the content and trait of prosodic features. Following this viewpoint, present study looked over prosodic features which may effect the characteristics of word accent in standard Korean, through systematic experimental procedure. And the result of this experiment has been verified by statistical method, the T-test, for the purpose of identifying the relatedness among prosodic features(parameters). This thesis, therefore, aimed to investigate the intrinsic acoustic and physical qualities of the word accent in standard Korean. Nonsense words composed by 'mal' and 'ma' which can be divided into 'heavy syllable' and 'light syllable' quoted from Hyman(1975) have been classified into 28 types with respect to syllable numbers(2 syl., 3 sy1., 4 syl.) and these words have become the target of auditory test and acoustic experiment. As the result of those experimental Procedures, the word accent in standard Korean may be said that it has a tendency of fixing first two syllables regardless of syllable numbers. The syllable types of HH, HL, LL in the first two syllables may be prominent at first syllable and the type of H may be at second syllable. Various prosodic features(parameters) including duration, intensity, and Fo(purely phonetic terms) were also strengthened in those positions. The result of this experiment can be cleared up like these : 1. The most important feature is proved as 'duration', the feature of intensity resulted in more subsidiary one than the feature of duration. 2. Fo( fundamental frequency) could be observed as having some coherent contour through almost all syllable types(99 ％), that is, in 2 syllable types, it had rising contour, in 2 syllable types, rising-falling contour, and in 4 syllable types, it contained rising-falling-rising contour. The result of auditory test was different with those contour forms of all Fo surveyed. With respect to these results, the discuss for Fo is determined' to be excluded comparing other features. 3. Finally, this thesis resulted in a decision that the word accent in standard Korean may has fixed(somewhat weaker) accent, especially fixed at first two syllables in almost all words. 4. Various kinds of syllable types related with 2,3,4 syllables, therefore, can be reclassified into 4 types of HH, HL, LH, LL following the concept of accent fixing placement(i.e. first two syllables). In these 4 types, the types of HH, HL, LL were prominent at the position of the first syllable , and the type of LH was prominent at the second syllable otherwise.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• spring
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• pp.119-122
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• 2000

In this paper, we implement an elementary system to correct accent, pronunciation, and intonation in English spoken by non-native English speakers. In case of the accent evaluation, energy and pitch information are used to find stressed syllables, and then we extract the segment information of input patterns using a dynamic time warping method to discriminate and evaluate accent position. For the pronunciation evaluation. we utilize the segment information using the same algorithm as in accent evaluation and calculate the spectral distance measure for each phoneme between input and reference. For the intonation evaluation. we propose nine pattern of slope to estimate pitch contour, then we grade test sentences by accumulated error obtained by the distance measure and estimated slope. Our result shows that 98 percent of accent and 71 percent of pronunciation evaluation agree with perceptual measure. As the result of the intonation evaluation. system represent the similar order of grade for the four sentences having different intonation patterns compared with perceptual evaluation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.123-130
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• 2015

Given a recent finding showing that female speakers of South Kyungsang Korean is undergoing a sound change of the lexical pitch accent, this study tested whether the change is also reflected for male speech. This study compared F0 scaling and timing properties of accent words produced by younger female and male speakers of South Kyungsang Korean. The results indicated clear gender-related differences, showing more distinct acoustic properties across the accent words for male production compared to females. Despite the better distinction, however, younger male speakers showed peak delay where the F0 peaks are located further to the right compared to conservative speakers' production. Therefore, it might be suggested that younger male speakers' accent productions are in between conservative and innovative phonetic forms.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.187-209
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• 2003

In this paper, we examine if the lexical information of the verb and its noun object affects the pitch accent patterns of the verb phrase focus. Three types of verb-object combinations with different semantic weights are discussed: when the verbs have optional direct objects, when the objects have the greater semantic weight relative to verbs, and when the verbs and the objects have equal semantic weight. Argument-structure-based works note that the pitch accent location in a focused phrase is closely related to the argument structure and contextual information. For example, it has been argued that contextually new noun objects receive accent while given noun objects don't. Contrary to nouns, verbs can be accented or not in verb phrase focus regardless of whether they are given information or new information (Selkirk 1984, 1992). However, the production experiment in this paper shows that the accenting of verbs is not fully optional, but influenced by the lexical semantic information of the verbs. The accenting of noun objects with given information is possible and the deaccenting of new noun objects also occurs depending on the lexical information of the noun objects. The results demonstrate that in addition to argument structure and information by means of context sentences, the lexical semantic information of words influences the pitch accent location in focused phrase.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.101-120
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• 2004

Vocal nodule is one of the representative chronic diseases of vocal folds, and it can be cured by voice therapy. However, the existing therapeutic methods about vocal nodule are in great demand. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of therapeutic methods between Accent method and SK-MVTT (Seong-Tae Kim's multiple voice therapy technique), which was designed by the author. We identified 40 females, who diagnosed having vocal nodules, aged from 21 to 52 years (mean age: 40 years). Twenty females were treated by the SK-MVTT and the other 20 females the Accent method. All subjects received 12 sessions of treatment, and were evaluated after finishing the 6th and the 12th session. The results showed that the SK-MVTT produced a better results compared to the Accent method. The SK-MVTT was better especially at the initial stage of voice therapy compared to the Accent method. In this study, we can suggest that SK-MVTT may be useful in improving the voice qualities of vocal nodule patients. However, more data should be collected and evaluated before it can widely be used in other clinics.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-87
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• 2002

This paper investigates how focus contributes to the phonological and phonetic realization of Japanese intonation. Pierrehumbert & Beckman (1988) pointed out that textual prominence results in the H-tone peak raising on the focused item and IP (Intonational Phrase) initiation before the focused item. Similarly Kori (1989) suggested that the F0 peaks on the words after the focused item tend to be suppressed. Although they give a general description of the characteristics of focus phenomena in Japanese intonation, they fail to explain the F0 peak interaction between H phrasal tone and lexically specified pitch accent in more-than-3-mora words whose accent locations varies from early to late. In this paper, we perform the experiment to investigate the following three points. First, we would like to look at the systematic intonational differences between focused and neutral APs; specifically, focused APs, either accented or unaccented, are compared with the neutral counterparts in terms of F0 pattern. Second, we investigate F0 patterns of a focused AP with more than 3 morae, as the accent of the word varies from early to late. Since an AP with a late accent has a H- on the second mora as well as H*+L on its accent mora, it is expected that these peaks will show systematic F0 pattern when it is focused. Our third concern is F0 patterns of a post focus AP with more than 3 morae, that is, whether a post-focus word is dephrased or just downstepped as the word accent location varies from early to late. This paper is significant in that it tries to clarify the F0 peak interaction between H-and lexical pitch accent H*+L in a variety of focus contexts in Japanese intonation.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.251-266
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• 2002

This paper aims to compare and analyse the pattern of the pitch accent realization between the English native speakers and the .Korean speakers, using the sentences by the scope of focus including intransitive verbs; unaccusative, unergative, and passive, based on the previous studies. The results show that the English native speakers produce the intonational patterns similar to the previous study (Hoskins, 1996), which showed that English native speakers deaccented after the focused word for unaccusative and passive verbs in broad focus. Korean speakers, however, have a tendency not to deaccent after the focused word for both verbs. In the narrow subject focus condition, Koreans do not deaccent the verbs after the focused subject. In the narrow verb focus condition, they produce the pitch accent on verbs as the English native speakers do, but they tend to produce the pitch accent on subjects that should not be given any pitch accent. Therefore, unlike the English native speakers, the Korean speakers have a tendency not only that they do not produce three types of intransitive verbs with proper intonation, but also that they do not realize the focus structure itself properly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.146-160
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• 2000

The current study aimed to establish rationales for using three different voice therapies (resonant voice, accent method, and tongue-tip trills) by comparing the aerodynamic, and vocal fold closure characteristics under three therapies. A total of 8 male under/graduate students(tenors) participated as subjects. In order to compare aerodynamic characteristics, air flow rates and subglottal pressures were measured using Phonatory function analyzer under three therapy conditions. The characteristics of vocal fold closure patterns also were examined by comparing closed quotients(CQ) measured by Electroglottograph(EGG) under three therapy conditions. However, maximum phonation time (MPT) was measured under only resonant voice and tongue-tip trills using Aerophone II. The results are summarized as follows : 1) CQ, subglottal pressure and MPT decreased significantly under resonant voice as compared with throat voice, but the air flow rate increased significantly under resonant voice. 2) CQ decreased significantly under accent method as compared with throat voice, but both air flow rate and subglottal pressure increased significantly under accent method. 3) Both CQ and MPT decreased significantly under tongue tip trills as compared with throat voice, but air flow rate and subglottal pressure increased significantly under tongue-tip trills. Clinical implications of results were discussed in light of differential effects of three voice therapies.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.133-148
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• 2001

Focus and information structure are closely related with the distribution of pitch accents. A focused word conveys new information and bears a pitch accent. A content word can usually get a pitch accent, but it can be deaccented if it is mentioned earlier in the discourse. In this paper, we test how English native speakers and Korean learners of English realize pitch accents according to focus and information structure of a sentence. The production experiment shows that English native speakers give a pitch accent to narrow-focused items, deaccenting all the other items of the sentence. For VP broad focus, native speakers give a pitch accent either to both the verb and its complement or to the complement only. On the other hand, it is found that Koreans give pitch accents to most content words regardless of focus and information structure. Moreover, the perception experiment confirms that Koreans' intonation patterns, which are not appropriate in terms of focus and information structure, may jeopardize listeners' comprehension. This paper shows that Korean speakers have little knowledge about focus and information structure for intonational realization, and that such notions should be applied to teaching of English intonation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2010

The current study exploresacoustic variation induced by prosodic contexts in different speech styles,with a focus on motherese or child-directed speech (CDS). The patterns of variation in the acoustic expression of voicing contrast in English stops, and the role of prosodic factors in governing such variation are investigated in CDS. Prosody-induced acoustic strengthening reported from adult-directed speech (ADS)is examined in the speech data directed to infants at the one-word stage. The target consonants are collected from Utterance-initial and -medial positions, with or without focal accent. Overall, CDS shows that the prosodic prominence of constituents under focal accent conditions variesin the acoustic correlates of the stop laryngeal contrasts. The initial position is not found with enhanced acoustic values in the current study, which is similar to the finding from ADS (Choi, 2006 Cole et al, 2007). Individualized statistical results, however, indicate that the effect of accent on acoustic measures is not very robust, compared to the effect of accent in ADS. Enhanced distinctiveness under focal accent is observed from the limited subjects' acoustic measures in CDS. The results indicate dissimilar strategies to mark prosodic structures in different speech styles as well as the consistent prosodic effect across speech styles. The stylistic variation is discussed in relation to the listener under linguistic development in CDS.