Abstract

Recent studies on acoustic correlates of stress in English compounds and English phrases have revealed the difference of changes in acoustic manifestation between English compounds and English phrases with different intonation patterns. However, little effort has been made to compare Korean compounds and Korean phrases in different intonational environments. Therefore, this study focuses on the analysis of acoustic characteristics of Korean compounds and Korean phrases produced in different intonational sentence patterns (Subject, Question, Clause-Final, and Statement-Final). Measurements of vowel duration, intensity (dB) and pitch (in semitones) were compared. The results of the experiment in which 30 native speakers of Korean pronounced Korean compounds and Korean phrases (obtained from <TEX>$8{\times}30$</TEX> sentences) in controlled prosodic and intonational environments reveal clear patterns that distinguish Korean compounds from Korean phrases and support the evidence of acoustic salience for phrases. Duration differences turned out to be a significant cue to distinguish Korean compounds and Korean phrases in all but the Clause Final position. According to the size effect, duration ratio is the most reliable cue to distinguish Korean compounds and Korean phrases followed by the pitch differences between the first syllable and the second syllable and the intensity ratio. Implications for Korean and English intonation training were also discussed.

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