• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.33-37
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• 2018

Korean students with much exposure to the relatively slow and clear speech used in most English classes in Korea can be expected to have difficulty understanding the casual style that is common in the everyday speech of English speakers. This research attempted to investigate an effective way to utilize casual speech in English education, by exploring the way different speech styles (clear vs. casual) affect Korean learners' comprehension of spoken English. Twenty Korean university students and two native speakers of English participated in a listening session. The English utterances were produced in different speech styles (clear slow, casual slow, clear fast, and casual fast). The Korean students were divided into two groups by English proficiency level. The results showed that the Korean students achieved 69.4% comprehension accuracy, while the native speakers of English demonstrated almost perfect results. The Korean students (especially the low-proficiency group) had more problems perceiving function words than they did perceiving content words. Responding to the different speech styles, the high-proficiency group had more difficulty listening to utterances with phonological variation than they did listening to utterances produced at a faster speed. The low-proficiency group, however, struggled with utterances produced at a faster speed more than they did with utterances with phonological variation. The pedagogical implications of the results are discussed in the concluding section.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.3-10
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• 2011

This study examined the production of aspirated stop consonants in Korean and English words to address how the influences differed particularly in terms of proficiency in L2 English. Voice onset times (VOTs) were measured from two American monolinguals and seven Korean speakers. The results showed that VOT patterns for both L1 and L2 stops differed according to their proficiency in L2 English. In L2 English, high proficient speakers produced VOTs that were similar to those of native speakers of English whereas low proficient speakers produced VOTs that were significantly longer than those of proficient speakers. In L1 Korean and L2 English, most of the proficient speakers produced VOTs similarly. Unlike previous findings, Korean VOTs were even shorter than English counterparts. The VOT shortening of aspirated stops in Korean was found for most of the proficient speakers. The findings of the present study suggest that cross language phonetic influences as well as the ongoing VOT shortening in Korean aspirated stops may be correlated with L2 proficiency. Since this is a pilot study with a small number of subjects for each proficiency group, further quantitative study is necessary to generalize.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.57-62
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• 2011

Focused items in English sentences are usually accompanied by changes in acoustic manifestation. This paper investigates the acoustic characteristics of $H^*$ in English utterances produced by natives speakers of English and Korean learners of English. To obtain more reliable results, the changes of the acoustic feature values (F0, intensity, syllable duration) were normalized by a median value and a whole duration of each utterance. Acoustic values of sentences with no focused words were compared with those of sentences with focused words within each group (Americans vs. Koreans). Sentences with focused words were compared between the two groups, too. In the instances in which a significant Group x Focus Location (initial, middle and final of a sentence) interaction was obtained, further analysis testing the effect of Group on each Focus Location was conducted. The analysis revealed that Korean learners of English produced focused words with lower F0, lower intensity and shorter syllable duration than native speakers of English. However, the effect of intensity change caused by focus was not significant within each group. Further analysis examining the interaction of Group and Focus Location showed that the change in F0 produced by Korean group was significantly lower in the middle and the final positions of sentences than by American group. Implications for the intonation training were also discussed.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.111-135
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• 2002

An annotation model of a non-native speech database has been devised, wherein English is the target language and Korean is the native language. The proposed annotation model features overt transcription of predictable linguistic information in native speech by the dictionary entry and several predefined types of error specification found in native language transfer. The proposed model is, in that sense, different from other previously explored annotation models in the literature, most of which are based on native speech. The validity of the newly proposed model is revealed in its consistent annotation of 1) salient linguistic features of English, 2) contrastive linguistic features of English and Korean, 3) actual errors reported in the literature, and 4) the newly collected data in this study. The annotation method in this model adopts the widely accepted conventions, Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA) and the TOnes and Break Indices (ToBI). In the proposed annotation model, SAMPA is exclusively employed for segmental transcription and ToBI for prosodic transcription. The annotation of non-native speech is used to assess speaking ability for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.274-274
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• 1996

This presents the preliminary results from work in progress of a paired study of the acquisition of voiceless stops by Spanish speakers learning English, and American English speakers learning Spanish. For this study the hypothesis was that the American speakers would have no difficulty suppressing the aspiration in Spanish unaspirated stops; the Spanish speakers would have difficulty acquiring the aspiration necessary for English voiceless stops, according to Eckman's Markedness Differential Hypothesis. The null hypothesis was proved. All subjects were given the same set of disyllabic real words of English and Spanish in carrier phrases. The tokens analyzed in this report are limited to word-initial voiceless stops, followed by a low back vowel in stressed syllables. Tokens were randomized and then arranged in a list with the words appearing three separate times. Aspiration was measured from the burst to the onset of voicing(VOT). Both the first language (Ll) tokens and second language (L2) tokens were compared for each speaker and between the two groups of language speakers. Results indicate that the Spanish speakers, as a group, were able to reach the accepted target language VOT of English, but English speakers were not able to reach the accepted range for Spanish, in spite of statistically significant changes of p<.OOl by speakers in both groups of learners. A closer analysis of the speech samples revealed wide variability within the speech of native speakers of English. Not only is variability in English due to the wide range of VOT (120 msecs. for English labials, for example) but individual speakers showed different patterns. These results are revealing for the demands requied in experimental designs and the number of speakers and tokens requied for an adequate description of different languages. In addition, a simple report of means will not distinguish the speakers and the respective language learning situation; measurements must also include the RANGE of acceptability of VOT for phonetic segments. This has immediate consequences for the learning and teaching of foreign languages involving aspirated stops. In addition, the labelling of spoken language in speech technology is shown to be inadequate without a fuller mathematical description.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.47-59
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to propose an automatic evaluation technique for the prosodic aspect of an English sentence uttered by Korean speakers learning English. The underlying hypothesis is that the consistency of the manual prosody scoring is reflected in an imaginary space of prosody evaluation model constructed out of the three physical properties of the prosody considered in this paper, namely: the fundamental frequency (F0) contour, the intensity contour, and the segmental durations. The evaluation proceeds first by building a prosody evaluation model for the sentence. For the creation of the model, utterances from native speakers of English and Korean learners for the target sentence are manually scored by either native teachers of English or Korean phoneticians in terms of their prosody. Multiple native utterances from the manual scoring are selected as the "model" native utterances against which all the other Korean learners' utterances as well as the model utterances themselves can be semi-automatically evaluated by comparison in terms of the three prosodic aspects [7]. Each learner utterance, when compared to the multiple model native utterances, produces multiple coordinates in a three-dimensional space of prosody evaluation, each axis of which corresponds to the three prosodic aspects. The 3D coordinates from all the comparisons form a prosody evaluation model for the particular sentence and the associated manual scores can display regions of particular scores. The model can then be used as a predictive model against which other Korean utterances of the target sentence can be evaluated. The model from a Korean phonetician appears to support the hypothesis.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.89-105
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• 2006

This study examines the phonetic realizations of English word stress to identify the influence of experiment method on experiment results. Stimuli uttered by native and Korean ESL beginners in authentic conversations are extracted to be shuffled according to their positions in utterances and information structure. Results indicate that the acoustic characteristics of English word stress are realized depending on its position in utterances. The native speakers correlate the stressed syllables in shorter duration with higher pitch and stronger intensity at sentence-final positions unlike the previous experiments and the traditional definition that stressed syllables are uttered in longer duration with higher pitch and stronger intensity; at sentence-medial positions, the native speakers correlate the stressed syllables in longer duration with higher pitch and no regularity in intensity or in shorter duration with lower pitch and intensity depending on their conversational intention. Korean ESL beginners correlate the stressed syllables in shorter duration regardless of positions in sentences with no regularity in pitch and intensity. This study, thus, shows that a different experiment method may result in different results on the phonetic realizations of English word stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.173-181
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• 2007

This is a semantic pilot study which concentrates on how people in Taiwan process the temporal metaphors, ego-moving metaphor and time-moving metaphor. Motivated by the research of Gentner, Imai, and Boroditsky (2002) in which the English native speakers comprehend ego-moving metaphors faster than time-moving metaphors, the present study attempts to reexamine whether the faster reaction to ego-moving metaphors is shared by both the Chinese native speakers and EFL learners. To achieve the goals, 25 Chinese/English bilinguals are invited to be examined via the16 Chinese and 16 English test sentences. The recordings of their accuracy on each item are served as the databases used to compare with the study of Gentner, Imai, and Boroditsky (2002). The two finding presented here are: (1) when the subjects tested in their native language, Chinese, they process ego-moving metaphors better. (2) when tested in the foreign language, English, they conceptualize time-moving metaphors much better.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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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.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2010

Nasalance is used to evaluate the velopharyngeal incompetence in clinical diagnosis using Nasometer. The aim of this study is to find the nasalance differences between English native speakers and Korean speakers by measuring the nasalance of Oral and Nasal sentences. 20 Americans and 20 Korean students participate to the experimentation. The results are as follows: (1) The nasalance of females for Oral and Nasal sentences is higher than that of males for both native and Korean speakers. (2) The nasalance of Oral sentences in Korean men and females is higher than that of Oral sentences in American men and females, however, the nasalance of Nasal sentences in American men and females is higher than that of Nasal sentences in Korean men and females. (3) The nasalance of stop consonants /p, t, k/ in Korean men and females is higher than that of consonants in American men and females. (4) The nasalance of nasal consonants /m, n, ɧ/ in American men and females is higher than that of consonants in Korean men and females.