• Lingua Humanitatis
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• v.8
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• pp.223-239
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• 2006

This paper centers around the etymological meanings of place names of the Kumkang region, restricting the discussion to a selected group of place names which make it possible to infer their cultural characteristics in the light of the latitudinal or longitudinal isoglosses. The legends of Komnaru and Choryongdae, for instance, derive directly from place names. Dialectal distribution is examined on the basis of the phonological features that are not very different between upper and lower reaches of the Kumkang river. The dialects get much more similar as they go further down to the lower region of the river. The original "Komanara(熊津)", also called "Northern Headland(北津)", underwent the sound change of Komannaru > Komkang > Kumkang(錦江), the last being alternatively abbreviated as Kum(錦). During the last half of the 14th century-around the close of the Koryo dynasty, that is-a literary work gave the beautified name "Nakhwa-am"(落花巖), meaning 'rock-bluff of falling flowers', to what was originally called Tasa-am(墮死岩), so-called because, in the year of 660 when the Paekje dynasty was being ravaged by the invading enemy, a number of court-ladies ended their lives by plunging into the river from there. It was 'a number of court-ladies'(諸後宮) who died; but by tradition of popular songs, the number has become "three thousand" - a case of hyperbole of course.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.185-193
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• 2013

This study investigates dialectal differences in the acoustic properties of Korean lenis, aspirated, and tense stops Seoul Korean (standard Korean) and Yanbian Korean (spoken in the largest Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China). This production study the main acoustic cues that each dialect uses to mark the laryngeal distinction between the three types of Korean stops. Measurements included VOT, and the initial F0 of the following vowel. Data collected from 10 young Seoul Korean speakers, 10 young Yanbian Korean speakers, and 6 older Yanbian speakers. two key findings: First, aspirated and lenis stops are mainly differentiated by F0 in Seoul Korean, and by $H1^*-H2^*$ in Yanbian Korean. Second, there is no VOT merger between lenis and aspirated stops in Yanbian Korean, whereas there is in Seoul Korean. These results are discussed in terms of the phenomenon of VOT shift and the function of F0t is argued that the function of F0 to substitute for VOT difference as a primary cue for the coding of laryngeal contrast can be predicted by the pitch accent system of the language involved.