Phonetics characteristics of seoul korean tense stops

Abstract

This study investigates Seoul Korean tense stops, asking whether underlying intervocalic tense stops in /at*a ap*a ak*a/ share phonetic characteristics with those derived from a sequence of two lax stops by applying the post-obstruent tensing rule /at.ta ap.pa ak.ka/ → [at*a ap*a ak*a]. To examine whether the tense stops show articulatory fortition compared to lax stops, and if so, whether the underlying and derived tense stops differ from each other, tongue configuration and closure duration of tense stops in [at*a ap*a ak*a] that are underlyingly either /at*a ap*a ak*a/ or /at.ta ap.pa ak.ka/ are compared with those of lax stops in [ata apa aka]. Ultrasound tongue imaging data from six native speakers of Seoul Korean reveal indistinguishable tongue configurations among underlying tense stops, tense stops derived from underlying lax sequences, and lax stops. Both derived and underlying tense stops have longer closure duration than lax stops, but the two surface tense stops did not significantly differ in their closure duration. Taking the articulatory and acoustic evidence together, underlying and derived tense stops in Seoul Korean are phonetically indistinguishable from each other although both have longer closure durations than singleton lax stops. The findings further suggest that Seoul Korean may not use tongue configuration as an articulatory strategy for fortition for either underlying or derived tense stops.