• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

It is known that the voicing contrast for Japanese word-initial stops is primarily realized as differences in the voice onset time (VOT). However, recent studies have reported that voiced stops are more often produced with a positive VOT than with a negative VOT among the younger generation nationwide. It is also known that post-stop F0 is associated with the stop contrast, but the degree of F0 use differs from region to region. This study explores whether the difference in post-stop F0 functions as a perceptual cue to the stop contrast along with VOT. Fifty-five college students who are native listeners from four different regions participated in two or three perception tests. The results show that VOT is a primary cue to the voiced-voiceless distinction of word-initial stops, but that the effect of post-stop F0 on the stop contrast is marginal. The post-stop F0 is involved in perception only when VOT is ambiguous, such that a sound with high F0 is more often perceived as a voiceless stop, but not vice versa. The results of this study indicate that the acoustic parameters associated with the stop contrast are not the same in production and perception, and suggest that other factors such as context, which is not an acoustic characteristic, may also be involved in the stop contrast.

• MALSORI
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• no.21_24
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• pp.111-122
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• 1992

본 논문에서는 한국어에 있어서 세 가지 유형의 파열음과 일본어에 있어서 두 가지 유형의 파열음과 일본어에 있어서 두 가지 유형의 파열음이 보여주는 시간적 특성을 어두 위치 및 모음간 위치로 나누어 비교해 보았다- 한국어에 있어서 세 가지 유형의 파열음은 어두 위치에서 모두 무성음으로 실현되므로 성의 대립으로는 이들을 유형화 할 수 없고, 그보다는 조음의 힘과 기식의 유무에 따라 연음, 무기 경음, 유기 경음으로 분류하는 것이 타당하다. 이에 비해 일본어 파열음은 유성음인 연음과 무성음인 경음의 두가지 유형으로 대립된다. 유성음과 무성음, 그리고 유기음과 무기음의 구분에는 파열음의 개방에서부터 성대 진동까지의 시간인 성 시작 시간(VOT)과 기식의 길이가 변수가 된다. 경음과 연음의 구분에는 선행 모음의 길이, 폐쇄 지속 시간, Vl/(Vl+CL)의 비율이 유용한 정보가 된다. 양국어 어두 파열음의 VOT를 비교해 볼 때, 일본어 유성음은 음수의 VOT를 가지며, 한국어 무기 경음에서는 VOT가 10msec정도로 짧게 나타나고, 그 다음으로 한국어 연음. 일본어 무성음, 한국어 유기 경음의 순서로 길어진다. $\frac{선행 모음의 길이}{(선행 모음의 길이+폐쇄 지속 시간)}$의 비율은 언어의 특성도 반영해 주는데, 한국어의 경우 연음: 무기 경음: 유기 경음의 비는 0.63: 0.30:0.35, 일본어의 경우 유성음:무성음의 비는 0.69: 0.45로 나타났다. 청취 실험을 통해 한국인의 자음 인식 경향을 살펴본 결과, 성대 진동의 유무를 변별적으로 사용하지 않는 한국인 화자는 일본어 유성음은 연음으로, 무성음은 경음으로 인식하는 경향이 있는 것으로 나타났다.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.39-51
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• 2021

Based on spontaneous speech data collected in 2020, this study examined the production and perception of Korean lenis, aspirated, and fortis stops. Unlike the controlled experiments of previous studies, lenis and aspirated stops of males in their 30s were not distinguished by voice onset time (VOT) in spontaneous speech. Perceptual experiments were conducted on young females, the leaders of language change. F0 was found to serve as the primary cue for the perception of lenis stops, and then VOT distinguished the aspirated and fortis stops. The fact that the sounds were always perceived as lenis stops when F0 was low, irrespective of whether VOT was short or long, showed that F0 plays an absolute role in the perception of lenis stops. However, in some cases the aspirated and lenis stops were distinguished only by VOT, which does not happen in production. In terms of sound change, disagreement between production and perception systems occurs when sound change is in progress. In particular, when production change precedes perception change, it indicates that the sound change is in its latter stages. Young females still maintain the previous system in perception because the distinction of lenis and aspirated stops by VOT was valid in their parents' generation. In other words, VOT is still used for perception to communicate with other groups.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

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.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 2013

This study investigated the influence of English vowel pronunciation training to English word-initial stop pronunciation. For that purpose, VOT values of English stops produced by twenty Korean English learners(five Youngnam dialect male speakers, five Youngnam dialect female speakers, five Kangwon dialect male speakers, and five Kangwon dialect female speakers) were measured using the Speech Analyzer and their post-training production was compared with their pre-training production. The result shows that post-training VOT values of voiced stops became closer to those of native English speakers in all four groups. Hence, it can be inferred that vowel pronunciation training is effective for correcting pronunciation of voiced vowels by analyzing the change of the quality of following vowels(especially low vowels) and the degree of giving stress.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2016

Previous studies showed that the voice onset time (VOT) of aspirated and lenis stops has been merged, and post-stop fundamental frequency (F0) has emerged as a primary cue to distinguish the two stops in the younger generation and female speech. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that VOT merger in aspirated and lenis stops occurs after an F0 difference between the two stops becomes stabilized. In other words, unless post-stop F0, which is a redundant feature, is fully developed, it is hard for VOT merger to happen. Females have got a stable F0 difference in stops earlier than males. Therefore, VOT merger could happen, and as a result, females could take the lead in changing from VOT to F0 in initial stops. This study also shows that speakers who acquired F0 as a primary cue use F0 to the full to distinguish lenis stops from two other stops (aspirated and fortis).

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

Traditionally it has been understood that the aspirated and lenis stops in Seoul Korean are distinguished primarily by voice onset time (VOT) and secondarily by other cues such as the fundamental frequency (F0) of the following vowel. However, recent studies on stop production have shown that the aspirated and lenis stops are currently merging in VOT and that they are now differentiated primarily by F0. In the present study, we examined whether the currently reported change in the production domain would be also found in the perception domain. To this end, an auditory identification task was conducted using speech materials of varying VOT and F0 values with young and older male and female Seoul listeners. Results revealed that all listener groups used both VOT and F0 to distinguish the lenis vs. aspirated stops but they used the F0 cue more reliably than the VOT cue in discriminating the stop contrast. The effects of gender and age were found only in the VOT cue (i.e., not in the F0 cue), with the greatest VOT cue weight in older males and the smallest in young females, which is in line with recent production studies.