• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.29-35
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• 2011

This paper examines several articulatory properties of /k/, known as a trigger of place assimilation as well as the object of post-obstruent tensing (/tk/), in comparison to non-assimilating controls (/kk/ and /kt/). Using EMMA, tongue body articulation in the place assimilation context robustly shows greater spatio-temporal articulation and lower jaw position. Results showed several characteristics. Firstly, constriction duration of the tongue body gesture in C2 of the assimilation context (/tk/) was longer than non-assimilating controls (/kk/ and /kt/). Secondly, constriction maxima also demonstrated greater constriction in the /tk/ sequences than in the control /kk/, but similar values with the control /kt/. In particular, results showed a significant relationship between the two variables - the longer the constriction duration, the greater the constriction degree. Lastly, jaw height was lower for the assimilating context /tk/, intermediate for the control /kk/, and higher for the control /kt/. Results suggest that speakers have lexical knowledge of place assimilation, producing a greater tongue body gesture in the spatio-temporal domains with lower jaw height as an indication of anticipating reduction of C1 in /tk/ sequences.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.35-57
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• 2010

This study focuses on how prosodically and morphologically based OT constraints are implemented in voicing and place assimilations in English. It is revealed that prosodically based ID-ONS(V) applies to both assimilations except for assimilations occurring with irregular inflection morphemes. Morphologically based meta-constraint ranking, however, plays a role only in progressive voicing assimilation with regular inflection morphemes and regressive place assimilation with complex words. Thus, prosodically and morphologically based constraints are differently implemented in assimilation processes in English. The study shows that general faithfulness constraints should be decomposed into more specified constraints. It is also revealed that the general direction of assimilation is regressive in English and it might be reversed if morphological facts are involved in the process (Lombardi, 2001).

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.109-116
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• 1996

In this paper, I would like to explore the possibility that the nature of place assimilation can be captured in terms of the OCP within the Optimality Theory (Mccarthy & Prince 1999. 1995; Prince & Smolensky 1993). In derivational models, each assimilatory process would be expressed through a different autosegmental rule. However, what any such model misses is a clear generalization that all of those processes have the effect of avoiding a configuration in which two consonantal place nodes are adjacent across a syllable boundary, as illustrated in (1):(equation omitted) In a derivational model, it is a coincidence that across languages there are changes that have the result of modifying a structure of the form (1a) into the other structure that does not have adjacent consonantal place nodes (1b). OT allows us to express this effect through a constraint given in (2) that forbids adjacent place nodes: (2) OCP(PL): Adjacent place nodes are prohibited. At this point, then, a question arises as to how consonantal and vocalic place nodes are formally distinguished in the output for the purpose of applying the OCP(PL). Besides, the OCP(PL) would affect equally complex onsets and codas as well as coda-onset clusters in languages that have them such as English. To remedy this problem, following Mccarthy (1994), I assume that the canonical markedness constraint is a prohibition defined over no more than two segments, $\alpha$ and $\beta$: that is, $^{*}\{{\alpha, {\;}{\beta{\}$ with appropriate conditions imposed on $\alpha$ and $\beta$. I propose the OCP(PL) again in the following format (3) OCP(PL) (table omitted) $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are the target and the trigger of place assimilation, respectively. The '*' is a reminder that, in this format, constraints specify negative targets or prohibited configurations. Any structure matching the specifications is in violation of this constraint. Now, in correspondence terms, the meaning of the OCP(PL) is this: the constraint is violated if a consonantal place $\alpha$ is immediately followed by a consonantal place $\bebt$ in surface. One advantage of this format is that the OCP(PL) would also be invoked in dealing with place assimilation within complex coda (e.g., sink [si(equation omitted)k]): we can make the constraint scan the consonantal clusters only, excluding any intervening vowels. Finally, the onset clusters typically do not undergo place assimilation. I propose that the onsets be protected by certain constraint which ensures that the coda, not the onset loses the place feature.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.131-142
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• 2002

Place assimilation in Korean has been argued to reflect the consonantal strength hierarchy in which velar is stronger than labial which is in turn stronger than coronal. The strength relationship has been manifested in two ways in literature. One is through phonological representation as shown in Iverson and Lee (1994). The other is through perceptual salience ranking as suggested by Jun (1995). The goal of this study is to examine the perceptual salience of placed consonants through an identification experiment. The experiment conducted in this study reveals four facts. First, place identification of a prevocalic consonant is higher than that of a postvocalic one. Second, place identification of a stop in coda is more confusable than that of a nasal counterpart in Korean contrary to other previous studies. Third, velar is most confusable in place identification in contrast to Jun (1995) and Hume et al. (1999). Finally, place perception of consonants can vary depending on adjacent vocalic context. These results suggest that perceptual salience is one of the possibly several factors affecting a phonological process.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the lexical representation of phonological variants derived from optional vs. obligatory phonological processes. Given that place assimilation is optionally processed, whereas nasal assimilation is obligatory in Korean, a long-term repetition priming experiment was conducted, using a shadowing task. Korean speakers shadowed words containing either assimilated or unassimilated consonants in three priming conditions and their shadow responses were evaluated. It was shown that in both place and nasal assimilations, shadowing latencies for unassimilated stimuli were longer than those for assimilated stimuli in the mismatched condition. These results suggest that even in the optional assimilation, assimilated variants were processed more easily and faster than the canonical variants. The present results argue against the frequency-based account of multiple lexical representation (Connine, 2004; Connine & Pinnow, 2006; Ranbom & Connine, 2007; $B{\ddot{u}rki$, Ernestus, & Frauenfelder, 2010; $B{\ddot{u}rki$, Alario, & Frauenfelder, 2011).

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.511-525
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• 2008

Residential segregation is often considered to be one of the social problems that intensify urban inequality This study reviews three different frameworks about the causes of residential segregation and tests their validity in the real world. The review focuses on racial/ethnic residential segregation in U.S. cities since it has been blamed for persistent socio-economic gap among racial/ethnic groups. The three different segregation frameworks include 'spatial assimilation' that attributes segregation to low degree of assimilation and acculturation, 'place stratification' to discriminatory practices in the housing and mortgage markets such as steering, blockbusting, and redlining, and 'resurgent ethnicity' to racial/ethnic preference in residential choice, particularly in-group attraction. As an effort to test their validity, the paper examined residential pattern changes of the four major Asian nationality groups through 1990s and found that their residences got decentralized but re-cluster in some selected suburbs. This supports 'resurgent ethnicity' largely and 'spatial assimilation' only partly.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.17-27
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• 2020

This paper examines kinematic characteristics of /pk/ clusters, as compared to /kk/ and /pp/ with varying vowel contexts and speech rate. The results of EMMA data from eight Seoul-Korean speakers indicate as follows. Firstly, comparing /pk/ to /pp/ sequences, lips closing movement was faster and spatially greater in the /a/-to-/a/ context while temporally longer in the /i/-to-/i/ context. It was smaller in spatial displacement and shorter in temporal duration in /pk/ sequences. Peak velocity did not vary. Secondly, comparing /pk/ with /pp/ and /kk/ controls, lip aperture was less constricted in the /a/-to-/a/ context than /i/-to-/i/, but the maximum contact between the upper and lower lips was invariant across different vocalic contexts within /pk/ sequences (/apka/=/ipki/). Categorical reduction of C1 in /pk/ sequences fell in with the low-vowel and fast-rate conditions with across-/within-speaker variability. Gradient reduction of C1 was observed in all C1C2 types, being more frequent in fast rate. Lastly, the jaw articulator was a stable indicator of rate effects. The implication of the current study is that gestural reduction occurs with categorical reduction and general spatiotemporal weakening in the assimilating contexts, while quantitative properties of gestures may be a reason for gradient reduction, not necessarily confined to place assimilation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 1996.02a
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• pp.489-500
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• 1996

• MALSORI
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• no.21_24
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• pp.3-24
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• 1992

This study was designed to investigate the changes of phonological processes in normal Korean children aged from 2- to 6-years. Forty eight children who lived in Seoul or Kyung-Ki do were tested with a picture articulation test and their articulation errors including omissions, additions and substitutions were coded into phonological processes. Those phonological processes were discussed in several ways: syllable structure, place, manner, assimilation, tenseness, and aspiration of sounds. Data were analyzed by two ways: (1) number of subjects who showed each process and (2) percentage of occurrence of each process. Analyses in omission-addition processes demonstrated that postvocalic omission occurred most frequently, followed by velar-, alveolar-, and glottal omission. Analyses in substitution processes showed that fronting (palatal and velar), backing (alveolar), and alveolization occurred most frequently in terms of the place of sounds. In terms of assimilation, alveolar-, stopping, and aspiration assimilation occurred frequently. Analyses by the tenseness and aspiration showed similar occurrences among the 4 processes, with slightly higher occurrences in tensing and aspiration than lanxing and deaspiration. All of the processes decreased by age. The numbers of the processes showed by more than half of the children or exceeded 10％ of occurrence were 20 in 2-years of age, 10 in 3-years of age, 1 in 4-years of age, and none in ages of 5 and 6.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.43-60
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• 2008

Instrumental studies (e.g., aerodynamic, EPG, and EMMA) have shown that the first of two stops in sequence can be articulatorily reduced in time and space sometimes; either gradient or categorical. The current EMMA study aims to examine possible factors_linguistic (e.g., speech rate, word boundary, and prosodic boundary) and paralinguistic (e.g., natural context and repetition)_to induce gradient reduction of $C_1$ in /pk/ cluster sequences. EMMA data are collected from five Seoul-Korean speakers. The results show that gradient reduction of lip aperture seldom occurs, being quite restricted both in speaker frequency and in token frequency. The results also suggest that the place assimilation is not a lexical process, implying that speakers have not fully developed this process to be phonologized in the abstract level.