• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.25-51
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• 2017

This study aimed to identify the differences in pitch perception between tonal and non-tonal language listeners. A total of 60 Korean and Chinese listeners participated in the perception test. A two-syllable nonsense word /paba/ was manipulated in five steps. The pitch height or contour on the second syllable was raised or lowered. Both groups were asked to select which of the two syllables had the higher pitch. The findings showed that the majority of Korean listeners (GK) perceived decreased pitch as each peak of the syllable was lowered and perceived increased pitch as it was raised, which means the pitch height is a primary perceptual cue for GK. However, Chinese listeners (GC) perceived sensitive pitch movements as the pitch contour changed. GC's perception may presumably be affected by the L1's tone sandhi. We found it reasonable to assume that language experience has a significant effect on the cross-linguistic perceptual differences between tone and non-tonal language listeners.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.193-228
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• 2022

This study investigates the production and perception of Vietnamese tones by Japanese, Lao, and Taiwanese second language (L2) learners [n=30], comparing their performance in an Imitation task to that of Identification and Read-Aloud tasks. The results show that the Imitation task is generally easier for L2 speakers than the Identification and Read-Aloud tasks, suggesting that imitation is performed without some of the skills required by the other two tasks. It is also found that Lao and Taiwanese speakers outperform Japanese speakers, suggesting that prior experience with one tone language facilitates the acquisition of tone in another language. The result on speakers' tonal range show that L2 leaners have significantly narrower tonal F0 range than control Vietnamese speakers [n=11]. The results of error pattern analysis and tonal transcription also suggest that non-modal voice (glottal stop and creakiness) and contour tones (bidirectional fall-rise) are more difficult for L2 learners than modal voice tones (e.g., unidirectional contours: rising, falling, and level).

• CHINESE LITERATURE
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• v.98
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• pp.267-300
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• 2019

The present study examines the global pitch characteristics in Mandarin and Korean produced by twenty-two bilingual speakers of the two languages. An acoustic experiment was conducted in which a script of the story Northern Wind and the Sun was produced in both Korean and Mandarin at self-controlled fast and slow rates. It finds that Mandarin, a tonal language, is produced with neither wider pitch range nor overall higher pitch and therefore suggests that tonal languages may not necessarily be produced with wider or higher global pitch than non-tonal languages. A comparison of L1 and L2 speech reveals that significant pitch range reduction and global pitch lowering are observed only in the female native Mandarin speakers' L2 Korean. In contrast, a pitch range remains comparable in L1 and L2 speech produced by the male native Mandarin speakers as well as in L1 and L2 speech produced by the male and female native Korean speakers. It further finds gender effect but no speaking rate effect on pitch peak and valley manipulation in changing global pitch ranges. Findings of this study are not in total agreement with previous studies that claim an overall narrow pitch range to be the most essential characteristics of L2 intonation patterns. The observation that the native Korean speakers produced neither pitch range reduction nor overall pitch lowering in L2 Mandarin may be due to their meta-linguistic awareness of the importance of pitch production in a tonal language. L2 fluency seems to play a role in such a way that advanced-level L2 speakers tend to produce more native-like global pitch patterns.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2020

Non-tonal language speakers may have difficulty learning second language lexical tones. In the present study, we explored this issue with Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese (i.e., non-tonal first language speakers) by examining their perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones. In the perception experiment, the Korean learners were asked to listen to the tone of each stimulus and assign it to one of four Mandarin lexical tones using the response keys; in the production experiment, the learners provided speech production data for the lexical tones and then their productions were identified by native listeners of Mandarin Chinese. Our results showed that the Korean learners of Mandarin Chinese had difficulty in perceptually distinguishing Tone 2 and Tone 3, with the most frequent production error being the mispronunciation of Tone 3 as Tone 2. We also investigated whether unfamiliar non-native phonemes (i.e., Chinese phonemes) that do not exist in the native language phonemic inventory (i.e., Korean) may hinder the processing of the non-native lexical tones. We found no evidence for such effects, neither for the perception nor for the production of the tones.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2008

Language transfer means that the speaker's first language or previously acquired language influences on the production of the target language. This study aims at examining if there is native language influence on the production of English intonation by Korean speakers. The pitch accent patterns and the values of duration, F0, and intensity of the stressed vowel of the word with emphatic accent in the sentence produced by Korean speakers are compared to those of American English speakers. The results show that when the word receives emphatic accent in the sentence, American English speakers put H* accent on the stressed syllable of the word, but Korean speakers mostly assign high pitch on the last syllable of the word and have LH tonal pattern despite the fact that primary stress does not come on the last syllable within a word. In addition, comparison of the values of duration, F0, and intensity of the stressed vowel of the word with emphatic accent to those of the word with unmarked neutral accent shows that Korean speakers do not realize the intonation of the accented word appropriately because the values decrease even though the word has emphatic accent. This study finds out that there are differences in the production of English intonation of the word with emphatic accent between native speakers of English and Korean speakers, and that there is negative transfer of Korean intonation pattern to the production of English intonation by Korean speakers.

• MALSORI
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• no.11_14
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• pp.73-89
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• 1987

This paper is an attempt to propose a new model of intonation called 'Configurational Contour Model'. For our purpose two previous models are discussed : one is the system of tonetic-stress marks and the other is the theory of pitch levels. To overcome shortcomings which these approaches display, the new model is based on two fundamental characteristics of intonation: (1) that intonation is a suprasyllabic phenomenon; and (2) that intonation is basically a matter of configurations, i.e., of rising, falling and level. Accordingly, the new model can be relatable to relevant aspects of the phonetic representation of utterances and also can express all the tonal oppositions in a given language.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.7-23
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• 2008

This paper investigates tonal patterns of the prosodic constituents of an AP and a PWD in Korean and their relation with the morphological/syntactic structure. Specifically, this paper asks the following questions: First, if there are more than one PWD in an AP, how is each PWD specified in terms of tones? Secondly, in case that there is only one PWD in an AP that consists of several morphemes, is there any preference of the association between tones and the morphemes that constitute that PWD? Thirdly, if an AP dominates a PWD and if a PWD contains at least one morpheme of the lexical category, it follows that an AP should contain at least one morpheme of the lexical category. Can this be verified with the experimental data? In order to answer these questions, Experiment I and II were conducted with the target material consisting of a stem and suffixes that varied in length. The results of this preliminary test show that as the number of syllables in the target material increases, the more number of an AP tonal pattern occurs in it and as a result, in some cases, an AP consisting of suffixes only may occur.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-83
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• 2016

This study investigated the tonal characteristics in Korean emotion words by analyzing the pitch patterns transformed from word utterance. Participants were 30 women, ages 19-23. Each participant was instructed to talk about their emotional experiences using 4-syllable target words. A total of 180 utterances were analyzed in terms of the frequency of each syllable using the Praat. The data were transformed into meantones based on the semi-tone scale. When emotion words were used in the middle of a sentence, the pitch pattern was transformed to A3-A3-G3-G3 for '즐거워서(joyful)', C4-D4-B3-A3 for '행복해서(happy)', G3-A3-G3-G3 for '억울해서(resentful)', A3-A3-G3-A3 for '불안해서(anxious)', and C4-C4-A3-G3 for '침울해서(frustrated)'. When the emotion words were used at the end of a sentence, the pitch pattern was transformed to G4-G4-F4-F4 for '즐거워요(joyful)', D4-D4-A3-G3 for '행복해요(happy)', G3-G3-G3-A3 and F3-G3-E3-D3 for '억울해요(resentful)', A3-G3-F3-F3 for '불안해요(anxious)', and A3-A3-F3-F3 for '침울해요(frustrated)'. These results indicate the differences in pitch patterns depending on the conveyed emotions and the position of words in a sentence. This study presents the baseline data on the tonal characteristics of emotion words, thereby suggesting how pitch patterns could be utilized when creating a melody during songwriting for emotional expression.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.131-145
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• 2004

The informative or important entities in utterances are focused and the focused items are usually accompanied by changes in phonetic manifestation. Phonetic realizations triggered by focus include changes of tonal contours as well as segmental strengthening. Focus in Korean is characterized by new phrase initiation, dephrasing, and initial tone contour with an enlarged pitch range in addition to segmentally lengthened initial segment. Focusing on the prosodic cues which play an important role in delivering the speakers' intention, this study aims to find out what intonational characteristics of Korean focus are realized by English learners of Korean. The English learners are divided into two groups according to their fluency in Korean, and the differences in focus realization between each group are discussed. Furthermore, the phonological and phonetic realizations of focus by English learners of Korean are compared to those by Korean native speakers. The results of this study yields two suggestions for Korean intonation education of L2 learners. First, the comparison between the two speaker groups can give better understanding in how and why the Korean intonation of English speakers is different from that of Koreans. Second, each phonological and phonetic characteristic of focus realization can weigh differently and its realization provides a criterion for evaluation of L2 Korean proficiency.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.71-78
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Japanese(L1) on the production of Korean accentual phrases(L2). Korean and Japanese have a similar prosodic structure. But different from Korean, Japanese is a pitch accent language. So each word has its own pitch accent. And pitch accents are maintained in the sentence intonation. This difference will have a negative influence on the production of Korean sentence intonation. For this study 4 Korean natives speakers and 10 advanced Japanese learners of Korean participated in the production test. The material analysed constituted 11 Korean sentences, six of which contain formally identical Sino-Korean and Sino-Japanese words. The results show that the initial pitch pattern of Korean accentual phrases was affected by Japanese pitch accent types and this interference was greater for formally identical Sino-Korean and Sino-Japanese words. But besides initial tones of accentual phrase, some positive interference was observed in the internal tonal pattern of accentual phrase. In the phonetic realization, the internal pitch range and initial pitch rising of accentual phrases was greater for Japanese learners of Korean than native speakers of Korean.