Revisiting Post-Stop Tensification and Stop Nasalization in Korean

Hyunkee Ahn 한국음운론학회 2000 음성·음운·형태론 연구 Vol.6 No.1

Ahn, Hyunkee. 2000. Revisiting Post-Stop Tensification and Stop Nasalization in Korean. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 6.1, 75-101. This paper aims to provide a phonetically grounded explanation for two Korean phonological processes: Post-Stop Tensification and Obstruent Nasalization. The main research question in this paper is what makes both phonological patterns language-particular, but phonetically natural. This paper is an attempt to answer this question in a unified way. First, based on the phonetic findings, we will incorporate two laryngeal features [stiff vocal folds] and [slack vocal folds] into the phonological treatment of Korean stops, while maintaining the two features [constricted glottis] and [spread glottis] as it is normally done in current phonological studies. Second, we will argue for the need to impose the feature [stiff vocal folds] on the neutralized unreleased stops. Finally, we will show that both phonological processes provide an optimal strategy for the laryngeal settings in an environment following a neutralized stop. Specifically, it will be discussed that, for physiological reasons, it is easier to articulate laryngeal settings that are not likely to be changed during the extended vocal tract closure made by the two combined segments in question--i.e., either two succeeding obstruents or a sequence of stop and nasal sounds. (Kyung Hee University)

On the Lenis Stop Consonants in Korean

Ahn, Hyunkee 서울대학교 어학연구소 2000 語學硏究 Vol.36 No.2

This paper explores the acoustic cues for differentiating the lenis stop consonants from the other two stop categories in Korean-i.e., the tense and aspirated stop consonants. For this goal, I employ the H1 -H2 measure to investigate post-release phonation modes of vowels following the three different stop consonants in question. In addition, I investigate the relationships among H1 -H2. VOT. and F0 measures. The phonetic findings under the study are: (1) three manner classes are clearly distinguished in the H1 -H2 vs. VOT plot where the H1 -H2 values are obtained at the initial portion of vowels: (2) the F0 values for the post-lenis vowels are significantly lower than those of the other two classes throughout the first half of the vowels. Based on these phonetic fingings, I argue for the need to incorporate the two features [stiff vocal folds] and [slack vocal folds] into the phonological treatments of Korean stops, while maintaining the two features [constricted glottis] and [spread glottis]. For the phonological representation of the lenis stops, I suggest that the lenis stop category should be assigned the [slack vocal folds] only.

An Acoustic Investigation of Post-Obstruent Tensification Phenomena

Ahn, Hyunkee 한국음성과학회 2004 음성과학 Vol.11 No.4

This study investigated and compared the acoustic characteristics of the Korean stop sound [k'] in three different phonological environments: the tensified lenis stop [k'] as observed in /pæk+k'aci/, the fortis stop /k'/ as in /pæ+k'aci/, and the fortis stop /k'/ following an obstruent as in /pæk+k'aci/. The specific research Question was whether or not the tensified lenis stop shares all the acoustic features with the other two kinds of fortis stops. The acoustic measures adopted in this study were H1*-H2*. VOT, length of stop closure, and F_(0). The major findings were that the three stops showed no significant difference in all the acoustic measures except the length of stop closure. The fortis stop /k'/ following an obstruent showed significantly longer duration of stop closure than the other two stops, both of which showed no significant difference. Based on these phonetic results, this study argued that, for the proper phonological description of post-obstruent tensification, the phonological feature [slack vocal folds] of a lenis stop should be changed into [stiff vocal folds, constricted glottis] that the fortis stops should have.

한국인의 힌디어 폐쇄음 인식

안현기(Ahn Hyunkee) 한국음성학회 2009 말소리와 음성과학 Vol.1 No.3

/자음-모음/ 연접환경에서의 영어와 한국어의 마찰음 음성특질 비교연구

안현기(Ahn Hyunkee) 한국영어학회 2009 영어학 Vol.9 No.2

Does the Role of Contextual Cues Vary with L2 Listening Proficiency Level?

정현숙,Ahn, Hyunkee 한국영어교육학회 2005 ENGLISH TEACHING(영어교육) Vol.60 No.4

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether high and low level L2 learners differ significantly in which information they rely on more in auditory L2 word recognition. This study used auditory stimuli composed of four 10-item-sub-tests: (1) identifying key vocabulary out of context; (2) identifying one in neutral sentences; (3) identifying one in congruent sentences; (4) identifying one in incongruent sentences. 246 subjects were selected from a population of college students and English listening proficiency levels were designated on the basis of TOEFL listening scores. Subjects were asked to choose the word they heard indicating whether they recognized the key vocabulary. To examine whether subjects’ performance on the test varies with L2 listening proficiency levels and tasks, a one-between (Level) and one-within (Task) mixed design with repeated measures was used. A repeated measures ANOVA reveals that the high level L2 learners performed significantly better on all the sub-tests. In addition, subjects, irrespective of their L2 listening proficiency levels, produced the significantly smallest mean number of accurately answered items for the words in incongruent sentences. The result reflects a trend toward a greater reliance on contextual cues by L2 listeners where phonemic information and sentence meaning would conflict.

Cross-directional Development of Prosody

Seokhan Kang,Hyunkee Ahn 서울대학교 언어교육원 2012 語學硏究 Vol.48 No.1

This study examined L2 cross-directional development on the production of prosody features such as fundamental frequency range, speech rate, duration in the boundary word, and declination tiltof intonation. L2 learners of native Korean and English speakers with different levels were compared and analyzed. It was expected that L2 learners would have suprasegmental features more similar to native L1 speakers by the effect of longer immersion, while the variationin L2 acquisition could be found by the effect of background language. Two experiments for Korean learners of English and English learners of Korean were carried out to check the hypothesis. In the first experiment for Korean learners of English, thirty subjects in three groups joined. Also, another experiment was designed for English learners of Korean, in which thirty subjects in three took part. The results showed that L2 longer-immersed groups exerted the similar features of L1 native speakers. As we expected, the direction of L2 development, however, was different. That is, Korean immersed group of English was more native-like by having a wider F0 range, and a comparatively longer duration for the final boundary word, as well as a steeper F0 declination tilt. On the contrary, English immersed group of Korean followed more Korean-like features: a narrower F0 range, and a comparatively longer duration for the final-sentence word, as well as a gentle F0 slope of declination tilt. As a result, both groups have features withsimilar and different patterns at the same time. The similar features are realized in fast speech rate and longer duration in sentence-final words, while the contrastive features are found in F0 range and declination tilt. The result suggests that L2 development is decided by both factors: L1 background language and universal L2 developmental features.

A Comparative Study on Criteria and Tasks in Korean English Speaking Assessment by Native and Non-native Raters

Seokhan Kang,Hyunkee Ahn 서울대학교 언어교육원 2012 語學硏究 Vol.48 No.2

Evaluating Korean English speaking proficiency could be a major problem for Korean English educators mainly due to its subjectivity in assessment. More focus on eligible assessment has also raised a natural concern about valid and/or reliable evaluation on Korean English learners’ speaking performance by Korean raters. In this respect, it is meaningful to search for an objective way in evaluating non-native speaking performance by the non-native raters. With this particular aim, this paper is trying to analyze the current Korean raters’ rating patterns and suggest a better way of objective assessment. The results of the experiments show that most of experienced raters maintained acceptable level of internal consistency, regardless of their L1 background. The non-native raters also show similar severity patterns across various tasks and criteria, along with native English raters. However, Korean raters exhibit some particular characteristics different from native English counterparts. The educational suggestion is based on the results of rating experiments, comparing native English raters with Korean raters, which would be specified in detail from the main section in this paper.

An Intelligibility-based Approach to English Pronunciation Teaching : Evidence from [r] Production

Seokhan Kang,Hyunkee Ahn 서울대학교 언어교육원 2013 語學硏究 Vol.49 No.3

This work was to support the intelligibility-based approach to teaching English pronunciation through the experimental tests. In this study, both production and perception experiments were conducted for thirty three-levelled Korean learners of English and five native English speakers. The results showed that native English raters marked ‘good’ /r/ sound of Korean speech of English which showed a comparatively wide range of F3 between 2,150 and 2,550 Hz. Considering that native English speakers produced a comparatively narrow F3 range with low mean value between 1,700 and 1,800 Hz, we came to understand that they were tolerant of foreigners’ wide range of F3 for [r] signals with comparatively high mean value. Overall, this experiment clearly showed that we should rely more on the intelligibility principle, not on the native- like accurate pronunciation features, for the teaching of English pronunciation. It implies that pronunciation teaching should adopt the intelligibility-based approach.

The Effect of Immersion on the Production of L2 Suprasegmental Features

Seokhan Kang,Hyunkee Ahn 한국중원언어학회 2016 언어학연구 Vol.0 No.39

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of second language (L2) immersion experiences in a Korean-speaking environment for American English learners of Korean. To accomplish this research purpose, the following hypothesis is constructed; a native English group of learning Korean who had immersed for a longer period as adults would have suprasegmental features, maintaining a greater resemblance to those of native Korean speakers. Seventy participants, divided into four groups(a long-, mid-, short-term immersed group, and 10 native Korean speakers), were asked to produce oral outputs for the evaluation of suprasegmental features of Korean. In general, the longer group was more native-like by having a faster speech rate as well as a comparatively shorter pause duration, smaller pause frequency, and longer duration of the sentence-final syllable. However, the F0 range exerted somewhat different developmental patterns among the groups. These results suggest that even if the acquisition of L2 prosody is affected by the amount of immersion experience, these cues could be developed differently, in which some F0-related cues proved not to be paralleled with other durational ones.