• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2018

The vowel/consonant ratio is a well-known cue for the voicing of postvocalic consonants. This study investigates how this ratio changes as a function of speaking rate. Seven speakers of North American English read sentences containing target monosyllabic words that contrasted in coda voicing at three different speaking rates. Duration measures were taken for the voice onset time (VOT) of the onset consonant, the vowel, and the coda. The results show that the durations of the onset VOT and vowel are longer before voiced codas, and that the durations of all segments increase monotonically as speaking rate decreases. Importantly, the vowel/consonant ratio, a primary acoustic cue for coda voicing, was found to pattern asymmetrically for voiced and voiceless codas; it increases for voiced codas but decreases for voiceless codas with the decrease in speaking rate. This finding suggests that there is no stable ratio in the duration of preconsonantal vowels that is maintained in different speaking styles.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.85-102
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• 2018

This study aims to contrast phonological characteristics of Korean and Turkish in terms of language universality. Considering consonants, both languages have the same number of consonants (21), which is the most typologically plausible structure of consonants. Thus, it can be said that they display high universality in the number of consonants. However, Turkish shows higher universality in regards to their substance, i.e., it differs from Korean when it comes to the structure of plosives and affricates. Turkish has two contrastive consonants, i.e., voiced and voiceless. However, the Korean plosives and affricates consist of neutral, tense and aspirate voiceless. In the case of vowels, both Korean with 10 vowels and Turkish with 8 vowels show lower universality. Yet, all of those vowels belong to the list of the most plausible vowels which makes their universality higher in substance. In respect of the syllable structure, Korean with its (C)V(C) type shows a moderately complex structure while Turkish with its (C)V(C)(C) type has a complex structure. The coda may consist of two consonants in Turkish while only one consonant is possible in Korean. However, onset is composed of one consonant in both languages. The contrastive study of similarities and differences between Korean and Turkish in terms of phonological characteristics will help not only understand the two languages but also provide useful information to increase the efficacy of Korean language education for Turkish learners of Korean, whose number is rapidly increasing.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.31-41
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• 2012

Recent studies have shown that the stop system of Korean is undergoing a sound change in terms of the two acoustic parameters, voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (f0). Because of a VOT merger of a consonantal opposition and onset-f0 interaction, the relative importance of the two parameters has been changing in Korean where f0 is a primary cue and VOT is a secondary cue in distinguishing lax from aspirated stops in speech production as well as perception. In English, however, VOT is a primary cue and f0 is a secondary cue in contrasting voiced and voiceless stops. This study examines how Korean English learners use the two acoustic parameters of L1 in producing L2 English stops and whether the sound change of acoustic parameters in L1 affects L2 speech production. The data were collected from six adult Korean English learners. Results show that Korean English learners use not only VOT but also f0 to contrast L2 voiced and voiceless stops. However, unlike VOT variations among speakers, the magnitude effect of onset consonants on f0 in L2 English was steady and robust, indicating that f0 also plays an important role in contrasting the [voice] contrast in L2 English. The results suggest that the important role of f0 in contrasting lax and aspirated stops in L1 Korean is transferred to the contrast of voiced and voiceless stops in L2 English. The results imply that, for Korean English learners, f0 rather than VOT will play an important perceptual cue in contrasting voiced and voiceless stops in L2 English.

• MALSORI
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• no.33_34
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• pp.1-10
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• 1997

Korean stop consonants are well known for their tripple distinction. In word initial position lax, tense and aspirated consonants are all voiceless. They are differentiated by the degree of tension, aspiration and VOT(voice onset time). But in intervocalic position, lax consonants become voiced. In this study I compare the acoustic features of Korean intervocalic lax and tense stops. The closure duration of lax stops is shorter than that of tense consonants. The preceding vowel length is longer in tan than that in tense consonants. I modify the above acoustic characteristics by an experimental methods. For example, I shorten the closure duration of intervocalic tense stops by 5 steps. r also do auditory tests which will show us listener's reaction on the above examples. And do the same job with the preceding vowels. According to the auditory test, the closure duration does an important role in differentiating Korean intervocalic lax and tense stops. But the preceding vowel length has almost nothing to do with the distinction between lax and tense stops. So I conclude that acoustic features also have hierarchy. Some features have categorical characteristics and others don't.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 2015

We explored Dutch listeners' perception of Korean three-way contrast of fortis, lenis, and aspirated stops. The three Korean stops are all voiceless word-initially, whereas Dutch distinguishes between voiced and voiceless stops, so Korean voiceless stops were expected to be difficult for the Dutch listeners. Among the three Korean stops, fortis stops are phonetically most similar to Dutch voiceless stops, thus they were expected to be the easiest to distinguish for the Dutch listeners. Dutch and Korean listeners carried out a discrimination task using three crucial comparisons, i.e., fortis-lenis, fortis-aspirated, and lenis-aspirated stops. Results showed that discrimination between lenis and aspirated stops was the most difficult among the three comparisons for both Dutch and Korean listeners. As expected, Dutch listeners discriminated fortis from the other stops relatively accurately. It seems likely that Dutch listeners relied heavily on VOT but less on F0 when discriminating between the three Korean stops.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.5
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• pp.241-274
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• 1992

General American English(=A.E.) has conservative elements as well as progressive elements. A.E. and B.E. are languages which have more similarities than differances. In this paper. I studied the process of English progress before the A.E. had come into being, and the historical background and the cahristics of A.E. coming into being. Considering the differences between A.E. and B.E. from spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, I can give the outline as follows. A spelling 1. B.E. : au, ou $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : a, o 2. B.E. : e $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : i 3. B.E. : $${\ae}$$ oe $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : e 4. B.E. : our $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : or 5. B.E. : re $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : er B. pronunciation 1. B.E. : [e] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [i], [e], $$[\partial]$$ 2. B.E. : [a] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : 3. B.E. : [i(:)] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [ai], $$[\partial]$$, $$[{\varepsilon}]$$ 4. B.E. : $$[{\ae}]$$ $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [e], [c] 5. B.E. : [ai] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : $$[{\ae}]$$, [e] 6. B.E. : [c] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [e], [a], [o] 7. In case of "Vowel+[t]+Vowel", [t] is pronounced into [d] or [r] 8. In case of "-nt", [t] becomes a mute. 9. [t]+[j, l, m, n, r, u, or, w] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [?] (=glottal stop) 10. B.E. : [w] $${\rightarrow}$$A.E. : [hw] 11. B.E. : [Voiceless consonants], [Voiced consonants] $${\leftarrow}$$A.E. : [Voiced consonants], [Voiceless consonants] C. Vocabulary The historical background and geographical conditions of those days caused lots of new compounds and neologies. D. Grammar Though we use "of" to indicate the possessive case of inanimate object, -s genitive is used in A.E. In the perfect tense, "have" is often omitted and also auxiliary verb "will" is used in any case

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.57-63
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• 2009

The two specific research questions pursued in this paper are: (i) how Korean speakers perceive Hindi stops in terms of the three laryngeal categories of Korean stops; (ii) how well Korean speakers do with an ABX perception test that utilizes a total of 52 Hindi minimal pairs where all sounds are identical except for the laryngeal features of a stop in each word. A total of 45 university students participated in this experiment. The results showed that (i) Koreans tended to perceive Hindi voiceless unaspirated stops as Korean fortis ones, voiceless aspirated stops as aspirated ones, voiced stops as lenis ones, and breathy stops as aspirated ones, and (ii) Koreans had difficulty in distinguishing between voiceless aspirated and breathy stops in Hindi.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.605-625
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• 1972

한글의 파열자음(Plosive Consonants of stop consonants)인 ㄱ, R, ㅋ, ㅃ, ㅍ이나, ㄷ, ㄸ, ㅌ의 삼중 구별은 외국어에서는 찾아 볼수 없는 한글 고유의 특성이라고 생각되어 왔다. 이는 한국인 학자에게 뿐만 아니라 외국인 학자에게도 크나큰 관심사가 되어 왔다. 그 가장 큰 이유중의 하나가 소위 파열자음의 생리기전면에서 볼때, p,b나 k,g의 구별이 단순히 무성(Voiceless)대 유성(Voiced)의 차이냐 또는 근육의 힘의 차이냐 하는 문제가 오랫동안 국제학계에서 논난의 대상이 되어왔기 때문이다. 둘째로는 기이하게도 한글의 파열자음은 모두 무성자음으로 외국어에서 볼수있는 유성대 무성의 대조는 없으며, 다만 근육의 gal의 대조가 있지 않을까 생각되어 왔기 때문이다. 그러나 현재까지는 이 세가지 종류의 한글파열자음 발음시의 생리기전의 차이를 규명한 연구가 없었다. 저자는 이점에 착안하여 미국 위스컨신대학교 언어병리학 및 생리학 실험실에서 고도로 발달된 최신 연구기구를 이용하여 한글파열 자음 발음시의 생리기전의 차이를 규명하였다. 서론 연구방법, 연구결과, 결론에 관한 자세한 내용은 영문초록에 기술되어 있다.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.139-151
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• 2005

Previous studies have shown that Korean students have difficulty identifying some English consonants which are not in the Korean sound inventory. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy rate of English consonants correctly identified by 130 college students in order to find out which English consonants were difficult for the students to perceive. The subject's task was to identify one of the minimal pairs played in a quiet laboratory classroom. 100 minimal pairs consisted of syllables with various onsets or codas: stops, fricatives, affricates, liquids and nasals. Results were as follows: First, the average score of the English major group was significantly higher than that of the non-English major group. Second, there was a similar distribution in the rank order of minimal pairs sorted by the accuracy rate between the two groups. Third, the accuracy rate systematically decreased as each score range decreased. Fourth, the students showed higher accuracy in the perception of liquids than that of the stop-fricative contrast. Fifth, the accuracy score in onset position was higher than in coda position. Finally, the students still had problem telling voiced consonants from voiceless ones, especially in coda position. It would be desirable to extend the present research to middle or high school students to fundamentally resolve those listening problems.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.113-128
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• 2005

The underlying premise of this study was that L1 production is easily transferred into L2 production. In neutral intonation, there is a consonant-tone correlation in Korean: High tone patterns are correlated with voiceless aspirated and tense consonants and Low-High tone patterns are correlated with lax or other voiced consonants. The purpose of this study was to see whether the correlation in Korean (L1) is transferred into English (L2) production and whether the degree of transfer differs depending on the degree of proficiency. Eight Korean speakers and two American speakers participated in the experiment. F0 contours of words and sentences were collected and analyzed. The results of the present study showed that there is a strong correlation between voicing and tone in L2 utterances. When utterance-initial consonant types were voiceless, the word or the sentence began with the H pattern; otherwise it had the LH pattern. The degree of interference differed depending on the degree of proficiency: less proficient speakers showed a stronger correlation in terms of the magnitude (Hz) and size (ms) of the effects on F0. The results indicate that the consonant-tone correlation in L1 is strongly transferred into L2 production and the correlation transfer can be one of the actual aspects that cause L2 speakers to produce deviant L2 accents and intonation.