Perceptual Evaluation of Tonal Patterns in Seoul Korean

Abstract

Conducting a perception experiment with three loanwords differing in the number of syllables, this study evaluated logically possible tonal patterns within an Accentual Phrase (AP) to identify the most preferred AP tonal patterns. Although Seoul Korean’s basic AP tonal pattern is THLH, several variations, such as LLLH, LHLL, and LLLL, were accepted as preferred. These findings lead to several generalizations about the nature of AP tonal patterns when an AP begins with a Low tone-inducing segment: 1) A High tone cannot occupy an AP-initial position; 2) The distribution of a High tone is less variable than does a Low tone within an AP; and 3) A Low tone can appear anywhere within an AP. To integrate these tonal variations into the grammar of Seoul Korean intonation, this study provided several constraints within the framework of Optimality Theory. The preferred tonal patterns found in the perception experiment generally match the observed tonal patterns in previous studies, meaning that the preferred tonal patterns are neither random nor fuzzy.