South Kyungsang Korean Research Articles

Effects of tone on the three-way laryngeal distinction in Korean: An acoustic and aerodynamic comparison of the Seoul and South Kyungsang dialects.

The three-way laryngeal distinction among voiceless Korean stops has been well documented for the Seoul dialect. The present study compares the acoustic and aerodynamic properties of this stop series between two dialects, non-tonal Seoul and tonal South Kyungsang Korean. Sixteen male Korean speakers (eight from Seoul and eight from Kyungsang) participated. Measures collected included VOT, f0 at vowel onset and midpoint, H1-H2, and air pressure and airflow. The presence versus absence of tone affects both the acoustic and aerodynamic properties. First, Seoul speakers primarily use f0 to distinguish the three laryngeal gestures of Korean stops, while Kyungsang speakers mainly use VOT. Second, the high versus low tonal contrast for Kyungsang speakers makes f0 an unreliable acoustic cue for the three Korean stops. Third, dialectal differences in VOT to mark the three-way distinction support the notion of a diachronic transition whereby VOT differences between the lenis and aspirated stops in Seoul Korean have been decreasing over the past 50 years. Finally, the aerodynamic results make it possible to postulate the articulatory state of the glottis. Based on the acoustic and aerodynamic results, different phonological representations for the tonal and non-tonal dialects are suggested.

The effect of weak tone on the f0 peak alignment.

The f0 peak sometimes occurs after the syllable with which it is associated, and the peak alignment varies, depending on several factors such as lexical tone target, neighboring tones, focus, and so forth. This study investigates the effect of weak tones on the alignment of f0 peaks with three tone types (i.e., H, M, and R) of South Kyungsang Korean, spoken in the southeastern part of Korea. When three tone types are followed by one or two unstressed suffixes, R was found to have the maximum amount of peak delay and M was found to have the minimum amount, i.e., the peak came in the second syllable, following the R‐toned syllable, but the peak came in the syllable following the H‐toned syllable. This peak delay was not found for M. Thus, it is argued that the tone alternation patterns in suffixed words are not random; rather, they systematically reflect the phonetic implementation of each tonal target. For example, the peak is in the final portion of a syllable in R, and it takes more time for the peak to be fully realized. This effect can be clearly observed when the following tone is weak.

Weight-sensitive tone patterns in loanwords of south kyungsang korean

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