• 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.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.337-342
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• 1996

In prevoius works we have repored phonetic similarities between Japanese and Spanish voweis and syiiabic sounds. (1) (2) (3) (4). In the present communication we explore the relative importance of duration of the consonantal segment to elicit Spanish /l/ - /r/ distinction by native j Japanese talkers. Three Argentine and three trained native Japanese talkers recorded /l-r/ combined with /a/ in VCV sequences. Modifications of consonant duration and vowel context with transitions were m made by editing natural /ala/ sounds. Mixed VCV were produced by combining sounds of both languages. Perceptual tests were produced by combining sounds of both languages perceptual performed presenting the speech material, to native t trained and non trained Japanese listeners. In a tirst sessIOn a d discrimination procedure was applied. The items were arranged in pairs a and listeners Nere told to indicate the pair that sounded different. In the f following session they were asked to identify and type the letter corresponding to each one of the items. Responses arc examined in tenns of critical duration of the interval between vowels. Preliminary results indicate that the duration of intervocalic intervais was a relevant cue for the identification of /l/ and /r/. It seems that to differentiate the two sounds, Japanese listeners required relatively longer interval steps than the argentine suhjects. There was a tendency to conhlse more frequently /l/ for /r/ than viceversa.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2012

A lax stop in Korean, one of the three laryngeal contrastive stops, has undergone a sound change in terms of its acoustic properties. Prior production studies described this recent lax stop as being differentiated from tense and aspirated stops primarily by fundamental frequencies (f0). And, the acoustic property of voice onset time (VOT) further separates tense stops from lax and aspirated stops. The current research explores how these two major acoustic parameters of f0 and VOT cue the three stop categories in Korean adult listeners' perception. Thirty-one native speakers of Korean participated in two experimental tasks: categorization judgment and within-category goodness ratings. Two sets of audio stimuli were prepared by synthesizing English and Korean male speakers' CV productions. The findings showed that while f0 cues listeners to lax stops as production patterns would predict, VOT were closely related to listeners' categorization and goodness ratings of lax stops. This suggests that accurate characterizations of the recent lax stop category need to be based on Korean speakers' perceptual behavior as well as production patterns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Computer Information Conference
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• 2014.01a
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• pp.145-147
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• 2014

공동주의는 사회적 개체간의 지각적 경험을 공유하는 상호작용과정으로, 최근 인간-로봇 상호작용연구와 관련해서 로봇 공학자의 관심이 커지고 있다. 발달심리학에 기초한 기존의 developmental robotics의 접근과는 달리, 본 연구에서는 사전단서 패러다임을 이용해서 목표물, 단서, 주의반응 간의 삼자관계를 수학적으로 개념화하였다. 간단한 목표물 탐사과제를 통해서 계산모형의 수행을 검증하였다. 연구결과에서는 컴퓨터 시스템의 시각적 주의 모형이 사용자가 지시하는 단서(손가락 지시)의해 목표물(이온음료)을 주의를 할당하는 것을 보였다. 본 연구는 심리학에서 연구된 사전단서 패러다임을 인간-로봇 상호작용에 적용될 수 있음을 보여준다.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.112-119
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• 2011

This study presents experiments which examined the role of amplitude and fundamental frequency (f0) in the phonetic perception of short versus long stop length contrasts in Japanese (e.g., [t] vs. [tt]). Stop length contrasts are normally characterized by differences in the duration of stop closures. However, closure duration can be unreliable as a perceptual cue when one considers variability in the rate at which people speak. Acoustically, the amplitude and f0 of the vowel following stop consonants are known to covary with the length distinction of stops in Japanese. Given this fact, the current study examined amplitude and f0 as potential secondary cues to the distinction. The results indicate that even though both amplitude and f0 are robust correlates, Japanese listeners do not use these cues in categorizing short versus long stops.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.32
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• pp.313-336
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• 1997

Nineteen stimulus photograghs varied in hue and color scheme of one clothing style of Korean dress worn by a female were used to investigate the effect of color color scheme and structure on impression formation for Korean dress. Subjects were 77 male and 86 female undergraduate and graduate students. The stimuli c9onsisted of two sets(cool and warm) of four similar color schemes two sets (cool and warm in Chima color) of five contrasting color schemes and one extra stimulus triad 3 hue base. Structures were de-fined by color schemes of Kit.Korum toward the color schemes of Jokori and Chima. Stimu-lus photogragh selected from Korean dress fashion magazines was managed and varied in hues and color schemes to Kit Korum Jokori and Chima according to Korean Standard Color through scanning and Adobe photoshop 3.0 program and then pictured through slide printer(HR-6000). Each subject assessed 19 stimulus color photographs with incorporated 7 point semantic differential response scale. The data were analyzed by frequency mean factor analysis t-test ANOVA and Scheffe test. Results indicate impression ofrmations are af-fected by clothing cues. 1) Four factors emerged to account for dimensional structure of impressions of female features on Korean dress. These four factors were titled as(1) preference.evaluation (2) individuality.attention (3) youth and (4) friendshio. The preference.evaluation factor was the largest including eleven adjectives and accounting for 29.62% of the variances. 2) Almost every clothing cue(color, color scheme, structure) had some effects on im-pressions formed But the color of Chima did not form the effects on impression of prefer-ence.evaluation factor. The effect of related color scheme was the most influential clothing cue on impressions of preference.evalation factor and friendship factor whereas the ef-fect of contrasting color scheme was the most influential clothing cue on impressions of indi-viduality.attention factor and youth factor. The effect of cool color of Chima was the most influential clothing cue on impression of indi-viduality.attention factor whereas the effect of warm color of Chima was the most influen-tial clothing cue on impressions of youth factor and friendship factor. The effect of Jokori/Chima.Kit.Korum structure was the most influential clothing cue on impressions of pref-erence.evaluation factor and youth factor whereas the effect of Kit.Korum/Jokori.Chima structure was the most influential clothing cue on impressions of individuality.attention factor and friendship factor. 3) The interaction effects were appeared among clothing cues. Significant interaction effects between color schemes(similar and contrasting) and colors of Chima(cool and warm were appeared on impressions of prefer-ence.evaluation factor imdividuality.atten-tion factor and friendship factor, Significant interaction effects between color schemes (similar and contrasting) and structures (Jokori.Chima.Kit.Korum; Jokori.Kit.Koru-m/Chima;Jokori/Chima.Kit.Korum;Kit.Korum/Jokori.Chima) were appeared on impressions of preference.evaluation factor youth factor and friendship factor. Signifi-cant interaction effects between colors(cool and warm) and structures were appeared on impressions of individuality.attention factor youth factor and friendship factor. Sighifi-cant interaction effects between colors(cool and warm) and structures were appeared on impressions of individuality.attention factor youth factor and friendship factor. Significant interaction effects among clothing cues(color color schemes and structures) were appeared on all impression factors. The friendship factor was the most friquently affected impression factor by interaction effects among clothing cues. In summary the clothing was used as nonverbal cues in the effect on impression for-mation of female dressed in Korean dress. it concluded that color schemes worked as cen-tral traits and colors of Chima and structures worked as peripheral traits in the formation of impression of the female clothed in Korean dress. hence organizing our impressions with respect to the parts of the Korean dress in re-lation to the whole holistic perceptual pro-cess Gestalt approach was used and supported.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.521-528
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• 1996

This presentation explores on the perceptual characteristics of the lateral sound /l/ in CV syllables. At initial position we found that /l/ has well marked formant transitions. Then several questions arise: 1) are these formant structures dependent on the following vowel\ulcorner. 2) Are the formant transitions giving an additional cue for the identification\ulcorner Considering that the French vocalic system presents a greater variety of vowels than Spanish, several experiments were designed to verify to what extent a more extensive range of vocalic timbres contribute to the perception of /l/. Natural emissions of /l/ produced in Argentine Spanish and Canadian French CV syllables were recorded, where V was successively /i, e, a, o, u/ for Spanish and /i, e, $\varepsilon$, a, $\alpha$, o, u, y, \phi$/ for French. For each item, the segment C was maintained and V was replaced by cutting & splicing by each of the remaining vowels without transitions. Results of the identification tests for Spanish show that natural /l/ segments with low Fl and high formants F3, F4 can be clearly identified in the /i, e, u/ vowel contexts without transitions. For French subjects the combination of /l/ with a vowel without transitions reflected correct identifications for its own original vowel context in /e, $\varepsilon$, y, $\phi$/. For both languages, in all these combinations, F1 values remained rather steady along the syllable. In the case of /o, u/ very likely the F2 difference lead to a variety of perceptions of the original /l/. For example in Ilul, French subjects reported some identifications of /l/ as a vowel, mainly /y/. Our observations reinforce the importance of F1 as a relevant cue for /l/, and the incidence of the relative distance between formants frequencies of both components.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.33-40
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• 2017

This study aimed to examine how Korean-English bilinguals make use of VOT and F0 cues in perception and production of Korean (lenis vs. aspirated) and English (voiced vs. voiceless) stops. It was explored whether bilinguals with extensive experience living in the U.S. exhibit native-like or interactive patterns in the cue use for both languages. Participants produced monosyllabic word-initial stops within a carrier sentence in each language, and performed forced-choice identification tasks with synthesized stimuli varying in 7 VOT steps and 7 F0 steps with base tokens of /$t^han$/ for Korean and /$t{\ae}n$/ for English. Listeners were required to select either /tan/ or /$t^han$/ for Korean and either /$d{\ae}n$/ or /$t{\ae}n$/ for English. The results from binary logistic regression analyses for each listener indicated that all bilinguals placed greater weight on F0 than VOT when distinguishing between the Korean lenis and aspirated stops, and greater weight on VOT than F0 in distinguishing between the English voiced and voiceless stops. In terms of production, all participants showed remarkably overlapping ranges in the VOT dimension and separating ranges in the F0 dimension for the stop contrast of Korean, while forming overlapping ranges in the F0 dimension and separating ranges in the VOT dimension for the stop contrast of English. These results indicate that the bilinguals with extensive exposure to L2 manage the stop systems of the two languages independently, both in perception and production, employing the opposite cue use for stops in the two languages. It was also found that the absolute beta-coefficient values of the perceptual cues for Korean stops were generally smaller than those for English and those reported in a previous study as for later bilinguals, which may have resulted from Korean not being their dominant language.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2017

The current study explored how Korean-speaking children processed the multiple acoustic cues (VOT and f0) for the stop laryngeal contrast (/t'/, /t/, and /$t^h$/) and examined whether individual perceptual strategies could be related to a general cognitive ability performing executive functions (EF). 15 children (aged from 7 to 8) participated in the speech perception task identifying the three Korean laryngeal stops (3AFC) on listening to the auditory stimuli of C-/a/ with synthetically varying VOT and f0. They completed a series of EF tasks to measure working memory, inhibition, and cognitive shifting ability. The findings showed that children used the two cues in a highly correlated manner. While children utilized VOT consistently for the three laryngeal categories, their use of f0 was either reduced or enhanced depending on the phonetic categories. Importantly, the children's processing strategies of a f0 suppression for a tense-aspirated contrast were meaningfully associated with children's better cognitive abilities such as working memory, inhibition, and attentional shifting. As a preliminary experimental investigation, the current research demonstrated that listeners with inefficient processing strategies were poor at the EF skills, suggesting that cognitive skills might be responsible for developmental variations of processing sub-phonemic information for the linguistic contrast.