Phonetics and Speech Sciences (말소리와 음성과학)

Korean Society of Speech Sciences (한국음성학회)
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The role of voice onset time (VOT) and post-stop fundamental frequency (F0) in the perception of Tohoku Japanese stops

도호쿠 일본어의 폐쇄음 지각에 있어서 voice onset time(VOT)과 후속모음 fundamental frequency(F0)의 역할

  • Hi-Gyung Byun (Faculty of International Liberal Arts, Akita International University)
  • 변희경 (국제교양대학 국제교양학부)
  • Received : 2023.02.10
  • Accepted : 2023.03.20
  • Published : 2023.03.31
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Abstract

Tohoku Japanese is known to have voiced stops without pre-voicing in word-initial position, whereas traditional or conservative Japanese has voiced stops with pre-voicing in the same position. One problem with this devoicing of voiced stops is that it affects the distinction between voiced and voiceless stops because their voice onset time (VOT) values overlap. Previous studies have confirmed that Tohoku speakers use post-stop fundamental frequency (F0) as an acoustic cue along with VOT to avoid overlap. However, the role of post-stop F0 as a perceptual cue in this region has barely been investigated. Therefore, this study explored the role of post-stop F0 in stop voicing perception along with VOT. Several perception tests were conducted using resynthesized stimuli, which were manipulated along a VOT continuum orthogonal to an F0 continuum. The results showed no significant regional difference (Tohoku vs. Chubu) for nonsense words (/ta-da/). However, for meaningful words (/pari/ 'Paris' vs. /bari/ 'Bali,' /piza/ 'pizza' vs. /biza/ 'visa'), a significant word effect was found, and it was confirmed that some listeners utilized the post-stop F0 more consistently and steadily than others. Based on these results, we discuss innovative listeners who may lead the change in the perception of stop voicing.

일본어의 전통적인 어두 폐쇄음은 파열 전에 성대 진동을 동반하는 유성음과 파열 후에 약간의 기음을 동반하는 무성음으로 이분된다. 한편 도호쿠지방의 유성음은 어느 세대나 파열 전에 성대 진동을 동반하지 않고 무성화한 유성음으로 실현되어 다른 지역과 대조를 이룬다. 무성화한 유성음은 voice onset time(VOT)이 양값으로 나타나고 그러면 기존의 무성음의 VOT와 충돌하게 되어 카테고리 구별에 영향을 미치게 된다. 이에 대해 도호쿠지방의 화자는 생성 시에 다른 지역과는 달리 폐쇄음 구별에 후속 모음의 fundamental frequency(F0)를 적극적으로 사용하는 것이 여러 연구에 의해 확인되었다. 본 연구는 인지면에서도 F0가 폐쇄음 구별에 중요한 역할을 하고 있는지를 밝히기 위해 VOT와 함께 검토한 것이다. VOT와 F0를 재합성한 자극음을 사용하여 도호쿠지방 청자를 대상으로 조건을 달리한 여러 개의 지각실험을 실시하였다. 결과에서는 무의미어의 경우 지역차(도호쿠 지방 vs.주부 지방)는 유의하지 않았으나 유의미어에서는 어휘에 따라 F0 사용에 유의한 차이가 있었으며 이러한 차이는 F0를 적극적으로 사용하는 몇몇의 청자들에게서 기인하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 논의에서는 이들이 혁신 청자들로 여겨지며 이들을 중심으로 폐쇄음 지각에 F0 역할이 일반화되고 지각특성으로서 F0가 확립될 가능성에 대해 추론해 보았다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

본 연구는 일부 JSPS KAKENHI의 지원을 받아 수행되었습니다(과제번호: JP19K00634, JP20K00642).

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