The Effects of Age and Gender on VOT, F0, and H1-H2 in Korean Voiceless Stops Produced by Daegu Speakers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of age and gender on VOT, F0, and H1-H2 in Korean voiceless stops produced by Daegu speakers. The results revealed that VOT, F0, and H1-H2 are primary acoustic cues for the distinction between male and female speakers. For the effect of age, F0 plays a role in differentiating three age groups while VOT distinguishes between the child and the two adult groups. However, the H1-H2 is not affected by age. With regard to phonation type, Daegu speakers use VOT for a three-way laryngeal contrast, but both F0 and H1-H2 make a two-way distinction, which indicates that VOT is a primary cue for the phonation type. Furthermore, the young female speakers show a unique characteristic revealing that the VOT difference between the lenis and the aspirated stop categories was smaller than other groups, which implies that they are sensitive to a sound change and prefer to use standard language. Regarding the place of articulation, only VOT distinguishes the place of articulation on the stops.