Seoul Korean Speakers Research Articles

Yanbian Korean speakers tend to merge /e/ and /ɛ/ when exposed to Seoul Korean

This study examined the vowel merger between the two vowels /e/ and /ɛ/ in Yanbian Korean. This sound change has already spread to Seoul Korean, particularly among speakers born after the 1970s. The aim of this study was to determine whether close exposure to Seoul Korean speakers leads to the neutralization of the distinction between the two vowels /e/ and /ɛ/. We recruited 20 Yanbian Korean speakers and asked them about their frequency of exposure to Seoul Korean. The exposure level of each participant was also recorded using a Likert scale. The results revealed that speakers with limited in-person interactions with Seoul Korean speakers exhibited distinct vowel productions within the vowel space. In contrast, those with frequent in-person interactions with Seoul Korean speakers tended to neutralize the two vowels, displaying considerably overlapping patterns in the vowel space. The relationship between the level of exposure to Seoul Korean and speakers’ vowel production was statistically confirmed by a linear regression analysis. Based on the results of this study, we speculate that the sound change in Yanbian Korean may become more widespread as Yanbian Korean speakers are increasingly exposed to Seoul Korean.

Limits of short-term perceptual training for enhancing Seoul-Korean listeners’ use of English lexical stress in spoken word recognition

This study investigates whether short-term perceptual training can enhance Seoul-Korean listeners’ use of English lexical stress in spoken word recognition. Unlike English, Seoul Korean does not have lexical stress (or lexical pitch accents/tones). Seoul-Korean speakers at a high-intermediate English proficiency completed a visual-world eye-tracking experiment adapted from Connell et al. (2018) (pre-/post-test). The experiment tested whether pitch in the target stimulus (accented versus unaccented first syllable) and vowel quality in the lexical competitor (reduced versus full first vowel) modulated fixations to the target word (e.g., PARrot; ARson) over the competitor word (e.g., paRADE or PARish; arCHIVE or ARcade). In the training (eight 30-min sessions over eight days), participants heard English lexical-stress minimal pairs uttered by four talkers (high variability) or one talker (low variability), categorized them as noun (first-syllable stress) or verb (second-syllable stress), and received accuracy feedback. The results showed that neither training increased target-over-competitor fixation proportions. Crucially, the same training had been found to improve Seoul- Korean listeners’ recall of English words differing in lexical stress (Tremblay et al., 2022) and their weighting of acoustic cues to English lexical stress (Tremblay et al., 2023). These results suggest that short-term perceptual training has a limited effect on target-over-competitor word activation.

Individual Variability in the Production of /e/ and /ɛ/ in Yanbian Korean

This study investigates the production of two vowels (/e/ and /ɛ/) in Yanbian Korean to determine whether Yanbian Korean speakers produce the two vowels similarly. This was achieved by directly comparing the vowel production of Yanbian Korean to the control data provided by speakers of Seoul Korean, a dialect where an unconditional merger of the two vowels is already complete. We hypothesized that speakers in close contact with Seoul Korean speakers tend to neutralize the distinction between the two vowels. Resutls from the two statistical analyses (Pillai and Bhattacharyya’s affinity) confirmed that Seoul Korean speakers display completely overlapping distribution of the vowels, whereas Yanbian Korean speakers showed greater individual variability when producing the same vowels. Some speakers, who had constant contact with Seoul Korean speakers at work or school, produced the target vowels in a similar fashion; however, others clearly produced them as different phonemes. The results suggest that direct or prolonged contact with or exposure to a dominant language may play a role in initiating the spread of the merger at an individual level.

External photoglottography, intra-oral air pressure, airflow and acoustic data on the Korean fricatives /s’, s/

From simultaneous recordings of the external photoglottography, intra-oral air pressure (P_io), airflow and acoustic data from four native Seoul Korean speakers (2 male and 2 female), we have found that the two fricatives are not significantly different in glottal opening peak and airflow peak height either word-initially or word-medially and that the duration of aspiration is significantly reduced in word-medial /s/, compared to those in word-initial /s/, not in /s’/. We have also found that the duration of a high P_io plateau is significantly longer in /s/ than in /s’/ both word-initially and word-medially and that airflow resistance (R=P_io/U) at the onset and offset of a P_io plateau and at the time of airflow peak height is significantly higher in /s’/ than in /s/ across the contexts. However, the differences in P_io peak and F0 are not significant. In addition, the transition time to reach airflow peak height from the offset of a P_io plateau is found to be significantly longer in /s/ than /s’/ in both word-initial and word-medial positions. No significant differences in glottal opening peak and airflow peak height confirm that /s/ is specified as [–spread glottis] like /s’/. As for the other significant differences, we propose that /s/ is [–tense], and /s’/ [+tense].

The Non-Coalescence of /h/ and Incomplete Neutralization in South Jeolla Korean.

This study examines articulatory and acoustic data in order to investigate the non-coalescence of /h/ in South Jeolla. Seoul Korean speakers produce /pap/ "rice" followed by /hana/ "one" as [pa.pha.na] with the coalescence of /p/ and /h/; this is called an aspiration merger. In South Jeolla Korean, this merger may be blocked, as in cases where speakers produce /pap+hana/ as [pa.ba.na]. Electroglottographic (EGG) data indicate the existence of two groups of South Jeolla speakers: one that merges the plosive and /h/ (the merger group), and the other with the canonical South Jeolla Korean pronunciation that does not merge the two consonants (the non-merger group). The production of non-coalesced lenis stops in the non-merger group is phonetically comparable with an underlying lenis stop produced by both of the groups. However, in the non-merger group, the open quotient (OQ) of a vowel following a non-coalesced lenis stop is higher (breathier) than that of an underlying lenis stop. Spectral tilt results display a similarly increased breathiness when the vowel follows a non-coalesced lenis stop. As for the non-merger group of South Jeolla, we argue that speakers display incomplete neutralization such that the non-merger group produces two types of voiced lenis stops differing in the phonation of the following vowel. These findings suggest that previous phonological analyses that posit the /h/-deletion in the non-merger group of South Jeolla Korean need to be revisited.

The influence of inter-dialect contact on the Korean three-way laryngeal distinction: An acoustic comparison among Seoul Korean speakers and Gyeongsang speakers with limited and extended residence in Seoul.

This exploratory study investigates the acoustic correlates of the Korean three-way laryngeal stop distinction in Gyeongsang long-term (LT) transplants who were born in the Gyeongsang region but moved to Seoul to pursue higher education. Acoustic data were collected from eight LT transplants, five short-term (ST) transplants, and 11 Seoul speakers to examine whether exposure to Seoul Korean (SK) affects Gyeongsang speakers' cue-weighting in distinguishing stops in production. LT transplants produced stimuli in both Gyeongsang and Seoul dialects. A cue-weighting model based on the acoustic data reveals that voice onset time (VOT) is less important to distinguish lenis from aspirated stops for Seoul speakers and for LT transplants' SK, as compared to ST transplants and LT transplants' Gyeongsang Korean (GK). In addition, fundamental frequency (F0) is more important for the lenis-aspirated distinction for Seoul speakers and LT transplants' SK, as compared to ST and LT transplants' GK, showing that LT transplants rely less on VOT and more on F0 to distinguish lenis from aspirated stops compared to ST transplants. LT transplants' SK reveals that they rely more on VOT and less on F0 compared to SK speakers. The cue-weighting model of the LT transplants provide empirical evidence that a series of sound changes in GK is due to inter-dialect contact.

A non-contrastive cue in spontaneous imitation: Comparing mono- and bilingual imitators

This study tests the hypothesis that imitators of different native languages imitate the same targets in distinct ways predicted by their native phonology, by investigating the role of a non-contrastive phonetic property in spontaneous imitation of English voiceless stops by English monolingual and Seoul Korean-English bilingual imitators. The primarily contrastive phonetic property for English voiceless stops is voice onset time (VOT), with the fundamental frequency (f0) of the post-stop vowel being non-contrastive but still informative for the voicing contrast. On the other hand, in Seoul Korean, stop VOT is a non-primary cue, but it is necessary to maintain the full three-way laryngeal contrast in the language. Post-stop f0 is the primary cue for the Seoul Korean aspirated stops. Seoul Korean speakers have been reported to imitate aspirated stops with longer VOT by raising their post-stop f0 (Kwon, 2019). In this study, English monolingual speakers and Seoul Korean-English bilingual speakers heard and shadowed model speech containing English voiceless stops manipulated by either raising post-stop f0 or lengthening VOT. Their imitation was assessed with two acoustic measurements, stop VOT and post-onset f0, of the voiceless stops, before and after the imitators heard the model speech with the two manipulations. A separate discrimination test confirmed that both manipulations were reliably perceived by both the monolingual and the bilingual imitators. English monolingual speakers' imitation data suggest that their shadowing productions reflect the phonological significance of the two phonetic properties, and only the imitative changes induced by a contrastive cue last beyond the immediate shadowing targets. In addition, Seoul Korean-English bilingual speakers, when performing the spontaneous imitation tasks in English, do not draw on their native (Seoul Korean) phonology. Implications of these findings on the role of phonology in the spontaneous imitation of bilingual and monolingual speakers are discussed.

Focusing on vertical larynx action dynamics

Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between fundamental frequency and vertical larynx position. Additionally, Lee (2018) suggests the possibility that there is roughly one vertical larynx movement (VLM) per Accentual Phrase (AP) in Seoul Korean. Building on these findings, this study investigates the effect of prosodic focus on vertical larynx movements. Target sentences designed to have roughly four APs (e.g., AP[JoohyunSUBJ] AP[shabby garden field] AP[six yardsOBJ] AP[soldDECL], presented in Korean) were used to elicit a focus condition with focus on the initial word of the object phrase (e.g., six). Results from five Seoul Korean speakers indicate that quantifiable vertical larynx movements observed with real-time MRI for each sentence range from 3 to 6 movements, with 4 movements per sentence being most frequent. Sentences under focus had more instances of VLM per sentence than those without focus. Additionally, the displacement magnitudes of the vertical larynx gestures decrease over time through the sentence. Lastly, focused sentences have significantly greater VL displacement around the region of focus than the control. These observations on vertical larynx actions have implications for prosodic planning, downdrift, and pitch resetting, and future work is examining how VLMs align and correlate with Accentual Phrases and fundamental frequency. [Work supported by NIH.]

Variation of the word-initial liquid in North and South Korean dialects under contact

This study examines the phonetic variation of the word-initial liquid in two dialects of Korean, Northern Hamkyeong Korean of North Korea and Seoul Korean of South Korea. The goals of the study are two-fold: to provide a thorough description of the phonetic variation in the word-initial liquid in these two dialects and to examine the acquisition of Seoul Korean features by North Koreans residing in Seoul. The participants were prompted to produce initial liquids by reading a list of Sino-Korean words in North Korean orthography and loanwords that begin with a liquid. We found that in addition to tap, the presumed default variant in word-initial position, a variety of variants (nasal, lateral, approximant, obstruent, and trill) are attested in both North and South Korean speakers’ speech, but the proportion of the variants differ by dialect; Northern Hamkyeong speakers produced more obstruent and trill variants than Seoul Korean speakers, while Seoul Korean speakers produced more lateral and approximant variants. We also found evidence for dialect-internal changes and dialect acquisition. The younger Seoul Korean speakers realized the word-initial liquid as lateral more than older speakers, and the use of trill is declining in the North Korean dialect with younger speakers using it less than older speakers. The North Korean speakers who have been in South Korea longer and have the most contact with South Korean speakers tend to produce fewer obstruents.

Normalized gestural overlap measures and spatial properties of lingual movements in Korean non-assimilating contexts*

The current electromagnetic articulography study analyzes several articulatory measures and examines whether, and if so, how they are interconnected, with a focus on cluster types and an additional consideration of speech rates and morphosyntactic contexts. Using articulatory data on non-assimilating contexts from three Seoul-Korean speakers, we examine how speaker-dependent gestural overlap between C1 and C2 in a low vowel context (/a/-to-/a/) and their resulting intergestural coordination are realized. Examining three C1C2 sequences (/k(#)t/, /k(#)p/, and /p(#)t/), we found that three normalized gestural overlap measures (movement onset lag, constriction onset lag, and constriction plateau lag) were correlated with one another for all speakers. Limiting the scope of analysis to C1 velar stop (/k(#)t/ and /k(#)p/), the results are recapitulated as follows. First, for two speakers (K1 and K3), i) longer normalized constriction plateau lags (i.e., less gestural overlap) were observed in the pre-/t/ context, compared to the pre-/p/ (/k(#)t/>/k(#)p/), ii) the tongue dorsum at the constriction offset of C1 in the pre-/t/ contexts was more anterior, and iii) these two variables are correlated. Second, the three speakers consistently showed greater horizontal distance between the vertical tongue dorsum and the vertical tongue tip position in /k(#)t/ sequences when it was measured at the time of constriction onset of C2 (/k(#)t/>/k(#)p/): the tongue tip completed its constriction onset by extending further forward in the pre-/t/ contexts than the uncontrolled tongue tip articulator in the pre-/p/ contexts (/k(#)t/>/k(#)p/). Finally, most speakers demonstrated less variability in the horizontal distance of the lingual-lingual sequences, which were taken as the active articulators (/k(#)t/=/k(#)p/ for K1; /k(#)t/</k(#)p/ for K2 and K3). Taken together, the results suggest that biomechanical constraints be, at least partly, active: speakers can control spatio-temporal articulatory coordination in an interactive way such that greater tongue dorsum horizontal advancement is related to less gestural overlap in consecutive lingual-lingual (/k(#)t/) sequences.

The role of native phonology in spontaneous imitation: Evidence from Seoul Korean

This study investigates the role of phonology in spontaneous imitation in Seoul Korean speakers’ imitation of aspirated stops by comparing the primary and non-primary cues. Seoul Korean aspirated stops are differentiated from stops of other phonation types by at least two distinct acoustic properties, stop VOT and f0 of the post-stop vowel, with the latter being the primary cue. In the imitation experiment, Seoul Korean speakers heard and shadowed model speech that contained aspirated stops manipulated by either raising post-stop f0 or lengthening VOT. Their realization of these properties in /tʰ/, /t/, and /t*/ productions were compared before, during, and after exposure. Although both high f0 and long VOT induced imitative changes in post-shadowing productions, the results revealed that exposure to an enhanced non-primary cue (long VOT) also influences the production of the primary cue for aspirated stops (post-stop f0). However, an enhanced primary cue (high f0) does not have similar effects on the non-primary cue. These results provide evidence that spontaneous imitation is not strictly tied to individual phonetic properties but it is rather phonological in that abstract categories are involved in the process of imitation.

Context-dependent hyperarticulation of the Korean three-way laryngeal stop contrast in clear speech

We investigate whether and how speakers’ adaptation to feedback is reflected in hyperarticulation by comparing the productions of Korean aspirated, lenis, and fortis stops in plain versus clear speech. Ten Seoul Korean speakers were asked to read a stop-initial nonword and repeat the nonword after receiving misrecognition feedback that contained a contrasting stop. f0 and VOT were examined as main cues to the Korean stop distinction. Results showed that VOT was lengthened for aspirated and lenis stops in clear compared to plain speech. This difference in VOT was attributable to speakers’ modification in response to different types of feedback. VOT for aspirated stops was lengthened after both fortis and lenis feedback whereas VOT for lenis stops was lengthened only after fortis feedback. f0 did not show a difference between plain and clear speech. However, f0 enhancement for lenis and fortis stops depended on the type of feedback. f0 for lenis stops was lowered after aspirated feedback and raised after fortis feedback. Fortis stops’ f0 was lowered after aspirated and raised after lenis feedback. Overall, speakers can make local modifications in VOT and f0 in response to specific feedback, suggesting precise control in their effort to distinguish sounds and maintain intelligibility.

Effects of gender, age, and individual speakers on articulation rate in Seoul Korean spontaneous speech

The present study investigated whether there are differences in articulation rate by gender, age, and individual speakers in a spontaneous speech corpus produced by 40 Seoul Korean speakers. This study measured their articulation rates using a second-per-syllable metric and a syllable-per-second metric. The findings are as follows. First, in spontaneous Seoul Korean speech, there was a gender difference in articulation rates only in age group 10–19, among whom men tended to speak faster than women. Second, individual speakers showed variability in their rates of articulation. The tendency for some speakers to speak faster than others was variable. Finally, there were metric differences in articulation rate. That is, regarding the coefficients of variation, the values of the second-per-syllable metric were much higher than those for the syllable-per-second metric. The articulation rate for the syllable-per-second metric tended to be more distinct among individual speakers. The present results imply that data gathered in a corpus of Seoul Korean spontaneous speech may reflect speaker-specific differences in articulatory movements.

若年層韓国語ソウル方言における/o/と/u/の言語変化の一側面―先行子音種と発話単位の違いが2母音の重なりに与える影響―

若年層韓国語ソウル方言における/o/と/u/の言語変化の一側面―先行子音種と発話単位の違いが2母音の重なりに与える影響―

Phonetic realizations of the post-consonantal liquid in North and South Korean dialects

This study presents large-scale production data of consonant-liquid sequences in North and South Korean dialects. It is known that in South Korean, the liquid /L/ is not allowed in post-consonantal onset position and is nasalized not only after a nasal (e.g., /kɨmLi/ → [kɨmni] “interest”) but after a stop, involving the nasalization of the stop (e.g., /sʌpLi/ → [sʌmni] “providence”). We investigate whether this holds (i) for Seoul Korean speakers who become familiar with the onset liquid through exposure to English and (ii) for North Korean speakers who retain the onset liquid in their dialect. Thirty five North Korean defectors speaking Northern Hamkyeong dialect and 20 Seoul Korean speakers read 236 Korean words including a nasal-liquid (/mL, nL, ŋL/) or a stop-liquid sequence (/pL, kL/). Acoustic measurements for the sequences include formant frequencies, high/low frequency energy ratios, and presence of closure and release. Results show that the most common pattern is the nasalized output, with speaker and lexical variation. The post-consonantal /L/ was also realized as the lateral [l] or the tap [ɾ], depending on the speaker’s age (old vs. young) and the dialect (north vs. south).

Prosodic asymmetry in phonetic reorganization of Seoul Korean 3-way voiceless stop contrast

In younger generation Seoul Korean speakers, a phonetic reorganization of VOT and f0 in the phrase-initial stop contrast (i.e. aspirated, lenis, fortis) has been well documented. The current study elucidates how this local consonant effect on f0 further interacts with the global tonal patterns of the accentual phrase (AP). We test how the initial 3-way stop contrast is phonetically realized in AP-initial and AP-internal prosodic positions for six younger generation speakers (born 1980-1990). Our results show that the consonant effect on f0 is categorical in AP-initial position, compared to exhibiting a gradient effect in AP-internal position. We confirm an AP-initial VOT merger between aspirated and lenis stops, accompanied by an increased between-consonant f0 difference. In AP-internal position, along with a small but significant f0 difference, we found a near-merger of VOT between lenis and fortis stops, arising from the substantially reduced occurrence of intervocalic lenis voicing. Taken together, our findings provide novel evidence of an intricate interaction between phrase-level prosody and the local phonetic reorganization in the newly emerged phonetic system of Seoul Korean stops. [Work supported by NIH.]

Effects of age, sex, context, and lexicality on hyperarticulation of Korean fricatives

Seoul Korean is known for a rare three-way laryngeal contrast among lenis, fortis, and aspirated voiceless stops, which has recently undergone a change in phonetic implementation: whereas older speakers rely more on voice onset time (VOT) to distinguish lenis and aspirated stops, younger speakers rely more on onset fundamental frequency (f 0) in the following vowel. This production difference is reflected in disparate strategies for enhancing the contrast in clear speech, supporting the view that younger and older speakers represent the three laryngeal categories differently in terms of VOT and f 0 targets (Kang & Guion, 2008). In the current study, we used the clear speech paradigm to test for change in the representation of the two-way contrast between fortis (/s*/) and non-fortis (/s/) fricatives. Native Seoul Korean speakers (n = 32), representing two generations and both sexes, were recorded producing the coronal stops and fricatives in different vowel contexts, item types (real vs. nonce words), and speech registers (plain citation vs. clear). We report acoustic data on how the above factors influence production of the fricative contrast and discuss implications for the phonological categorization of non-fortis /s/ as lenis, aspirated, or a hybrid lenis-aspirated category.

Dialect Contact and Linguistic Accommodation

This study investigates standard Seoul Korean speakers’ linguistic accommodation in dialect contact situations. In particular, the study examines how ‘gender’, ‘age’, and ‘length of residency in Gyeongsang’ can affect participants’ accommodation in dialect contact. The study also examines speakers’ motivations for accommodation in dialect contact. In addition, this study investigates correlations of participants’ accommodative acts and attitudes towards both the Gyeongsang dialect and standard Seoul Korean as well as attitudes towards Gyeonsang Province and Seoul. To find this correlation, the present study collected two kinds of data : phonetic data and identity assessment data. Participants carried out three tasks: TEST1, designed for investigating phonological variation, TEST2, designed for exploring lexical pitch accents, and an identity assessment questionnaire.

The effect of co-occurrence restriction on perception of laryngeal contrast in Seoul Korean and East Kyungsang Korean

This study investigates dialect differences between Standard Korean and East Kyungsang Korean with respect to the role of co-occurrence restriction on perception of laryngeal contrast in stops and fricatives. The results obtained from the identification test first confirm that the laryngeal contrast is present only in the stops, but not in the fricatives in East Kyungsang Korean. In order to further explore the role of laryngeal co-occurrence restriction in the two varieties of Korean, identification tests using nonce compounds were conducted. The results provide experimental evidence of the laryngeal co-occurrence restriction; Both Seoul and East Kyungsang speakers’s perception of laryngeal contrast in stop consonants is conditioned by laryngeal specification of the preceding consonant. With respect to the perception of laryngeal contrast in fricatives, however, only Seoul Korean speakers exhibit the effect of the co-occurrence restriction. These results lead to the conclusion that the co-occurrence restriction plays a crucial role in the perception of laryngeal contrast both in stops and fricatives in Seoul Korean, while the laryngeal features are phonologically irrelevant for fricatives in East Kyungsang Korean. <img class=“UMSRatingIcon” id=“umsimg_tooltip” />

Effects of phonetic naturalness in decay of Korean vowel harmony

In this paper, based on Korean vowel qualities measured in the production experiments, I point out that /o/-stems are also actively participating in the decay of Korean vowel harmony, and their speed of decay is much faster than /a/-stems' speed. How the late-starter /o/-stems could have the faster speed in the decay of Korean vowel harmony? The role of phonetic naturalness in language learning is the key. Measured vowel qualities show that /o/ is acoustically much closer to /ʌ/ as “disharmonic” pair than to /a/ as “harmonic” pair. In addition, in terms of articulatory, the raising of /o/ and the backing of /ʌ/ make them more similar. In the production experiments, 14 Seoul-Korean speakers participated (7 males, 7 females). Onset and coda of stems are controlled. For each condition, 1 existing word and 2 nonce words are used. Participants are asked to make a natural conjugation form of a given stem and to produce it three times. Unlike previous corpus and production studies reporting that /o/-stems show no disharmonic forms, the current experimental results show that quality of selected vowels after /o/-stems is similar to /ʌ/, not /a/. Compared to /a/-stems, /o/-stems' suffix vowel qualities are clearly closer to /ʌ/.