Supralaryngeal control in Korean velar stops

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the supralaryngeal control of the production of the Korean three-way contrast in velar stops. First, an EMA-experiment with three Korean speakers was carried out, and the kinematic properties of the tongue back were analyzed (length of the deceleration phase of the movement, peak velocity, peak acceleration, amplitude and duration of the looping movement during consonantal closure, and angle of incidence between tongue and palate at contact onset). To understand the potential motor control mechanisms underlying the production of the three-way contrast, the target hypothesis, which suggests that articulator movements in stops are directed towards a target at or beyond the palate, was evaluated by comparing its predictions with our experimental findings. Evidence was found in support of this hypothesis. Hence, the hypothesis was further explored in a modeling study. The results suggest that variability in the articulatory parameters can be explained by a single control parameter, namely the target position of the tongue. In a third step the Korean velar stops were simulated by varying the target position. The results show that the main trends of the simulated consonants are in good agreement with the experimental findings.