• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.109-118
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• 2010

Using a speeded classification task (Garner, 1978), we investigated the perceptual interaction of distinctive features in Korean consonants. The main questions of this study were whether listeners can perceptually identify the component features that make up complex consonant sounds, whether these features are processed independently or dependently and whether there is a systematic hierarchy in their dependency. Participants were asked to classify syllables based on their difference in distinctive features in the task. Reaction times for this task were also gathered. For example, participants classified spoken syllables /ta/ and /pa/ as one category and /$t^ha$/ and /$p^ha$/ as another in terms of aspiration condition. In terms of articulation, participants classified /ta/ and /$t^ha$/ as one category and /pa/ and /$p^ha$/ as another. We assumed that the difference between their RTs represents their interdependency. We compared the laryngeal features and place features (Experiment 1), resonance features and place features (Experiment 2), and manner features and laryngeal features (Experiment 3). The results showed that distinctive features were not perceived in a completely independent way, but they had an asymmetric and hierarchical interdependency. The laryngeal features were found to be more independent compared to place and manner features. We discuss these results in the context of perceptual basis in phonology.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.29-38
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• 2009

This study investigated the interaction between consonants and vowels in Korean syllable perception using a speeded classification task (Garner, 1978). Experiment 1 examined whether listeners analytically perceive the component phonemes in CV monosyllables when classification is based on the component phonemes (a consonant or a vowel) and observed a significant redundancy gain and a Garner interference effect. These results imply that the perception of the component phonemes in a CV syllable is not linear. Experiment 2 examined the further relation between consonants and vowels at a subphonemic level comparing classification times based on glottal features (aspiration and lax), on place of articulation features (labial and coronal), and on vowel features (front and back). Across all feature classifications, there were significant but asymmetric interference effects. Glottal feature.based classification showed the least amount of interference effect, while vowel feature.based classification showed moderate interference, and place of articulation feature-based classification showed the most interference. These results show that glottal features are more independent to vowels, but place features are more dependent to vowels in syllable perception. To examine the three-way interaction among glottal, place of articulation, and vowel features, Experiment 3 featured a modified Garner task. The outcome of this experiment indicated that glottal consonant features are independent to both the place of articulation and vowel features, but the place of articulation features are dependent to glottal and vowel features. These results were interpreted to show that speech perception is not abstract and discrete, but nonlinear, and that the perception of features corresponds to the hierarchical organization of articulatory features which is suggested in nonlinear phonology (Clements, 1991; Browman and Goldstein, 1989).