Stroboscopic-Cine MRI Data on Korean Coronal Plosives and Affricates: Implications for Their Place of Articulation as Alveolar

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the place of articulation of the Korean (pulmonic egressive) lenis, aspirated and fortis affricates /c, c^h, c’/ in comparison with that of the coronal plosive counterparts /t, t^h, t’/. For this purpose, a stroboscopiccine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiment was conducted to examine not only where oral contact and constriction occur during oral closure and at its release, but also which part of the tongue is involved and how the apex, the blade and the body of the tongue are positioned as a function of time. Based on the results of the MRI experiment, we propose that the affricates should be classified as alveolar like the plosives but that they could be different in tongue shapes during oral closure and at its release: the affricates are laminal and the plosives are apical or apico-laminal. This distinction is associated with correlated variations in tongue body position (measured as pharyngeal width) and tongue blade position: tongue body position is more fronted with a relatively higher tongue blade position in affricates than in plosives. It is proposed that the gestural differences between the two types of stops serve to enhance the auditory contrast between the [+strident] affricates and the [–strident] plosives.