• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.139-145
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• 2015

Researchers have claimed that Korean younger speakers tend to less clearly differentiate aspirated and lax stops with VOT values while older speakers clearly differentiate these two stops with VOT values. To explain this phenomena, the current study consider both an aging effect and a general sound shift. For this study, VOT values and F0 of Korean stops produced by eight male speakers(years of birth were 1942 ~ 1952) analyzed using Praat. Their productions were compared with the values of participants whose year of birth were 1943 ~ 1952) in Silva(2006)'s research. Silva's research was conducted in 2004 using the same methods. The result shows that 2014's VOT gap between aspirated and lax stops and less F0 gap between aspirated and lax stops than those of 2004. When the F0 values related to physical conditions of the larynx is considered, it could be analyzed as the following: to distinguish the three-way phonation type clearly, older speakers depend on the VOT value more instead of F0 which they have difficulty to control.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

The current study examined English-speaking adult learners' production and perception of L2 Korean stops (/t/ or /t'/ or /t^h/) to investigate whether the two modalities are linked in utilizing voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0) for the L2 sound distinction and how the learners' L2 proficiency mediates the relationship. Twenty-two English-speaking learners of Korean living in Seoul participated in the word-reading task of producing stop-initial words and the identification task of labelling CV stimuli synthesized to vary VOT and F0. Using logistic mixed-effects regression models, we quantified group- and individual-level weights of the VOT and F0 cues in differentiating the tense-lax, lax-aspirated, and tense-aspirated stops in Korean. The results showed that the learners as a group relied on VOT more than F0 both in production and perception (except the tense-lax pair), reflecting the dominant role of VOT in their L1 stop distinction. Individual-level analyses further revealed that the learners' L2 proficiency was related to their use of F0 in L2 production and their use of VOT in L2 perception. With this effect of L2 proficiency controlled in the partial correlation tests, we found a significant correlation between production and perception in using VOT and F0 for the lax-aspirated stop contrast. However, the same correlation was absent for the other stop pairs. We discuss a contrast-specific role of acoustic cues to address the non-uniform patterns of the production-perception link in the L2 sound learning context.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.25-32
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• 2017

Besides their effect on the f0 contour of the following vowel, Korean stops are undergoing a sound change in which a partial or complete consonantal merger on voice onset time (VOT) is taking place between aspirated and lax stops. Many previous studies on sound change have mainly focused on group-normative effects, that is, effects that are representative of the population as a whole. Few systematic quantitative studies of change in adult individuals have been carried out. The current study examines whether the sound change holds for individual speakers. It focuses on inter-speaker and intra-speaker variability on sound change in contemporary Korean. Speech data were collected for thirteen Seoul Korean speakers studying abroad in America. In order to minimize the possible effects of speech production, socio-phonetic factors such as age, gender, dialect, speech rate, and L2 exposure period were controlled when recruiting participants. The results showed that, for nine out of thirteen speakers, the consonantal merger is taking place between the aspirated and lax stop in terms of VOT. There were also intra-speaker variations on the merger in three aspects: First, is the consonantal (VOT) merger between the two stops is in progress or not? Second, are VOTs for aspirated stops getting shorter or not (i.e., the aspirated-shortening process)? Third, are VOTs for lax stops getting longer or not (i.e., the lax-lengthening process)? The results of remarkable inter-speaker and intra-speaker variability indicate a synchronous speech sound change of the stop system in contemporary Korean. Some speakers are early adopters or active propagators of sound change whereas others are not. Further study is necessary to see whether the inter-speaker differences exceed intra-speaker differences in sound change.

• 대한음성학회지:말소리
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• 제38호
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• pp.125-136
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• 1999

This study examined the perception and production of Korean lax, fortis and aspirated stops in three apraxic patients. All of tile subjects made more production errors than perception errors. This indicates that apraxic patients have problems in phonetic execution rather than phonological representation. Additionally, in both production and perception, there were more errors in non-word-initial consonants than in word-initial consonants. These findings contradict those of the previous studies which report more errors in word-initial consonants. This study also found that, unlike previous studies in the types of errors made, distortion errors were high in both non-word-initial and word-initial consonants in apraxic patients. Generally, VOT of the stops showed significant differences among lax, fortis, and aspirated stops, which indicates that there is a failure not in choosing the appropriate stop but in positioning or motor planning at the articulation stage.

• 대한후두음성언어의학회지
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• 제16권1호
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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.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.35-43
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• 2019

This study examines the voice onset times (VOTs) of Korean stops produced by Korean learners of English with high language proficiency and long L2 exposure (i.e., Korean-English bilinguals) to assess whether the VOTs of their lax and aspirated stops are merging and, if so, which types of stops are being changed. Thirteen Korean speakers (six female and seven male) who had studied in the USA for more than three to ten years participated. The results show that the speakers in this study with long L2 exposure are participating in the VOT merger, in which VOTs for aspirated stops are reduced while those for lax stops are increased. In other words, change in VOT affects not only aspirated stops but also lax stops. The results indicate that L1 phonetic drift may not be primarily affected by the amount of L2 exposure, and language contact may not be the primary factor triggering a sound change in the Korean stop system. Further study is necessary focusing on the phonetic shift of the "lax" category because it may play a pivotal role in a tonogenetic-like sound change in present-day Korean.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.81-89
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• 2010

Korean and three other languages (English, Arabic, and Japanese) were compared with regard to the compensatory movements in a VC (Vowel and Consonant) sequence and word. For this, Korean data were collected from an experiment and the other languages' data from literature. All the test words of the languages had the same syllabic contexture, i.e., /CVCV(r)/, where C was an oral stop and intervocalic consonants were either bilabial or alveolar stops. The present study found that (1) Korean is most striking in the durational variations of segments (vowel and the following hetero-syllabic consonant); (2) unlike the three languages that show a constant sum of VC, Korean yields a three-way distinction in the length of VC according the type (lax unaspirated vs. tense unaspirated vs. tense aspirated) of the following stop consonant; (3) a durational constancy is maintained up to the word level in the three languages, but Korean word duration varies as a function of the feature tenseness of the intervocalic consonants; (4) consonant duration is proven to differentiate Korean the most from the other languages. It is suggested that the durational difference between a lax consonant and its tense cognate(s) and the degree of compensation between V and C are determined by the phonology in each language.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.29-37
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• 2010

Previous studies have investigated a between-category relationship of multiple acoustic cues for a laryngeal contrast by examining the distributions of VOT, f0 and H1-H2. The current study examined within-category correlations between cues comprising stops by Korean- and English-speaking adults and children to understand how children master the internal structure of stop phonation types in two languages. Word-initial stops were collected from about 70 children and 15 adults speaking English and Korean, and were analyzed in terms of VOT, f0 and H1-H2 to compute correlation coefficients. Findings in adults' productions included a gender-differentiated cue-correlation pattern associated with H1-H2 in Korean tense stops and a trading relationship between f0 and VOT in Korean lax and aspirated stops and English voiced and voiceless stops. Children did not necessarily have adult-like cue-correlation patterns even in early-acquired categories, suggesting that the mastery of intra-category structure of phonation type might occur later than inter-category structure.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.31-41
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• 2012

Recent studies have shown that the stop system of Korean is undergoing a sound change in terms of the two acoustic parameters, voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (f0). Because of a VOT merger of a consonantal opposition and onset-f0 interaction, the relative importance of the two parameters has been changing in Korean where f0 is a primary cue and VOT is a secondary cue in distinguishing lax from aspirated stops in speech production as well as perception. In English, however, VOT is a primary cue and f0 is a secondary cue in contrasting voiced and voiceless stops. This study examines how Korean English learners use the two acoustic parameters of L1 in producing L2 English stops and whether the sound change of acoustic parameters in L1 affects L2 speech production. The data were collected from six adult Korean English learners. Results show that Korean English learners use not only VOT but also f0 to contrast L2 voiced and voiceless stops. However, unlike VOT variations among speakers, the magnitude effect of onset consonants on f0 in L2 English was steady and robust, indicating that f0 also plays an important role in contrasting the [voice] contrast in L2 English. The results suggest that the important role of f0 in contrasting lax and aspirated stops in L1 Korean is transferred to the contrast of voiced and voiceless stops in L2 English. The results imply that, for Korean English learners, f0 rather than VOT will play an important perceptual cue in contrasting voiced and voiceless stops in L2 English.

• 음성과학
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.143-153
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• 2002

This study was designed to determine (1) the effects of the following stop consonant on the vowel length in isolated bi-syllabic words, (2) the mechanism which renders vowels longer in duration before lax stops than tense stops, (3) where the aspiratory interval is included, in the vowel portion or the preceding consonantal portion and (4) the influence of the preceding consonants upon the duration of the following vowel. Measurements were made of five timing variables on acoustic signals as three native Korean speakers uttered isolated bi-syllabic /VCV/ words in which the vowel was identical, /$\alpha$/, and the C slot was filled with bilabial stops. Findings: (1) the vowel length before the lax stops was significantly longer than before the tense stops, while the difference in the vowel duration between the tense stops was insignificant or negligible, (2) the vowel length varied as a function of the articulatory force of the following consonants, regardless of the phonological unit of syllable, (3) The aspiratory interval is interpreted as a portion of the preceding consonant and (4) The effects of the preceding consonants on the final vowel length were not rule-governed.