Dialectal variation in affricate place of articulation in Korean

Abstract

The place of articulation (POA) of Korean affricates has been a topic of much discussion in Korean linguistics. The traditional view is that the affricates were dental in the 15th century and then changed to a posterior coronal place in most dialects of Korean but the anterior articulation is retained in major dialects of North Korea, most notably Phyengan and Yukjin. However, recent instrumental studies on Seoul Korean and some impressionistic descriptions of North Korean dialects cast doubt on the validity of this traditional view. Our study examines the POA of /c/ (lenis affricate) and /s/ (anterior fricative) before /a/ in Seoul Korean (26 younger and 32 older speakers) and in two North Korean varieties, as spoken by ethnic Koreans in China (14 Phyengan and 21 Yukjin speakers). The centre of gravity of the frication noise of /c/ and /s/ was examined. The results show that in both North Korean varieties, both sibilants are produced as anterior coronal and comparable in their POA. In Seoul Korean, while the POA contrast shows a significant interaction with age and gender, the affricate is consistently and substantially more posterior than the anterior fricative across all speaker groups. The results support the traditional description.