Acoustic Analysis of Korean Fricatives and Affricates Produced by Jeju Dialect Speakers

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to examine the acoustic properties of Jeju Korean speakers’ fricatives and affricates in terms of phonation type, consonant category, speaker’s age, and gender by measuring fricative duration, rise time, amplitude rise slope, center of gravity, and skewness. It was found that fricative duration, rise time, and amplitude rise slope were important acoustic cues for the fricative-affricate distinction, while center of gravity was used as a robust cue for the phonation type for both fricatives and affricates. Regarding the effect of age, fricative duration and center of gravity distinguished the old adult group from the child and the young adult groups, while rise time and amplitude rise slope divided the child group from the two adult groups. As for the gender effect, rise time, amplitude rise slope, and center of gravity showed a significant difference between male and female speakers.