Phonological Explanations on the Pronunciation Errors of the Chinese Learner: Focusing on the Korean Liquids in Syllable Boundary

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate the grounds that cause the Chinese learner``s errors in Korean liquid pronunciation. The basis of analyzing pronunciation errors, in many cases, compares the phoneme inventory of target language with learner``s. However, the explanation by comparison of phoneme inventory is somewhat unclear when the proper segment that is pronounced by learner causes error in syllable level such as ``/nola/ → [nol.a]``. In this study, unlike previous contrastive approaches, we assume that the crucial key which causes the Korean liquid pronunciation errors of the Chinese learner is the difference between both languages in the process of syllabification. In the case of Chinese, there is only the convention that formulates ambisyllabicity without the application of rule so-called ``onset linking`` in syllable boundary. Therefore, the Chinese learner blocks the coda [l] to onset [□], or applies ambisyllable [ll] to syllable boundary.