Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study

Charles B. Chang

Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study

Charles B. Chang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

Abstract

The well-described laryngeal system of Korean has most often been analyzed as a typologically unique contrast among three kinds of voiceless plosives: aspirated, lax, and tense. This paper focuses on the phonetics of the tense series by examining the perception of obstruents described as tense in Korean and as voiceless unaspirated in Chinese, Spanish, and English in an experiment with 32 native Korean speakers. In a native/non-native labeling task, subjects were unable to distinguish between Korean syllables beginning with tense obstruents and Chinese syllables beginning with voiceless unaspirated obstruents of the same place of articulation; similar data holds for many of the Korean vs. Spanish and Korean vs. English syllable comparisons as well. These results suggest that, in word-initial position, tense Korean consonants are not perceptibly different from the voiceless unaspirated consonants of these other languages. © 2006 by Charles B. Chang.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CamLing 2006
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the Fourth University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research
Editors	Charles Chang, Esuna Dugarova, Irene Theodoropoulou, Elina Vilar Beltrán, Edward Wilford
Place of Publication	Cambridge, UK
Publisher	Cambridge Institute of Language Research
Pages	35-42
Publication status	Published - Mar 2006
Externally published	Yes
Event	4th University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research (CamLing 2006) - University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom Duration: 17 Mar 2006 → 17 Mar 2006 Conference number: 2006

Conference

Conference	4th University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research (CamLing 2006)
Abbreviated title	CamLing
Place	United Kingdom
City	Cambridge
Period	17/03/06 → 17/03/06

Funding

The majority of this work was conducted during the U.S. National Science Foundation’s 2005 East Asia/Pacific Summer Institute for U.S. Graduate Students in South Korea. I am grateful to the National Science Foundation and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation for their support, to Hoyoung Lee for many helpful discussions during the course of this research, and to Ian Maddieson, Keith Johnson, Sharon Inkelas, Larry Hyman, and the rest of the Berkeley Phonetics and Phonology Forum for valuable comments and feedback. Naturally any errors are mine and mine alone.

Research Keywords

phonetics
speech perception
Korean
English
Spanish
Mandarin Chinese
laryngeal contrast

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Chang, Charles B. / Tense consonants in Korean revisited : A crosslinguistic perceptual study. CamLing 2006: Proceedings of the Fourth University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research. editor / Charles Chang ; Esuna Dugarova ; Irene Theodoropoulou ; Elina Vilar Beltrán ; Edward Wilford. Cambridge, UK : Cambridge Institute of Language Research, 2006. pp. 35-42

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title = "Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study",

abstract = "The well-described laryngeal system of Korean has most often been analyzed as a typologically unique contrast among three kinds of voiceless plosives: aspirated, lax, and tense. This paper focuses on the phonetics of the tense series by examining the perception of obstruents described as tense in Korean and as voiceless unaspirated in Chinese, Spanish, and English in an experiment with 32 native Korean speakers. In a native/non-native labeling task, subjects were unable to distinguish between Korean syllables beginning with tense obstruents and Chinese syllables beginning with voiceless unaspirated obstruents of the same place of articulation; similar data holds for many of the Korean vs. Spanish and Korean vs. English syllable comparisons as well. These results suggest that, in word-initial position, tense Korean consonants are not perceptibly different from the voiceless unaspirated consonants of these other languages. {\textcopyright} 2006 by Charles B. Chang.",

keywords = "phonetics, speech perception, Korean, English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, laryngeal contrast",

author = "Chang, \{Charles B.\}",

year = "2006",

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editor = "Charles Chang and Esuna Dugarova and Irene Theodoropoulou and Beltr{\'a}n, \{Elina Vilar\} and Edward Wilford",

booktitle = "CamLing 2006",

publisher = "Cambridge Institute of Language Research",

note = "4th University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research (CamLing 2006), CamLing ; Conference date: 17-03-2006 Through 17-03-2006",

}

Chang, CB 2006, Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study. in C Chang, E Dugarova, I Theodoropoulou, EV Beltrán & E Wilford (eds), CamLing 2006: Proceedings of the Fourth University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research. Cambridge Institute of Language Research, Cambridge, UK, pp. 35-42, 4th University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research (CamLing 2006), Cambridge, United Kingdom, 17/03/06.

Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study. / Chang, Charles B.
CamLing 2006: Proceedings of the Fourth University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research. ed. / Charles Chang; Esuna Dugarova; Irene Theodoropoulou; Elina Vilar Beltrán; Edward Wilford. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Institute of Language Research, 2006. p. 35-42.

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Tense consonants in Korean revisited

T2 - 4th University of Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research (CamLing 2006)

AU - Chang, Charles B.

N1 - Conference code: 2006

PY - 2006/3

Y1 - 2006/3

N2 - The well-described laryngeal system of Korean has most often been analyzed as a typologically unique contrast among three kinds of voiceless plosives: aspirated, lax, and tense. This paper focuses on the phonetics of the tense series by examining the perception of obstruents described as tense in Korean and as voiceless unaspirated in Chinese, Spanish, and English in an experiment with 32 native Korean speakers. In a native/non-native labeling task, subjects were unable to distinguish between Korean syllables beginning with tense obstruents and Chinese syllables beginning with voiceless unaspirated obstruents of the same place of articulation; similar data holds for many of the Korean vs. Spanish and Korean vs. English syllable comparisons as well. These results suggest that, in word-initial position, tense Korean consonants are not perceptibly different from the voiceless unaspirated consonants of these other languages. © 2006 by Charles B. Chang.

AB - The well-described laryngeal system of Korean has most often been analyzed as a typologically unique contrast among three kinds of voiceless plosives: aspirated, lax, and tense. This paper focuses on the phonetics of the tense series by examining the perception of obstruents described as tense in Korean and as voiceless unaspirated in Chinese, Spanish, and English in an experiment with 32 native Korean speakers. In a native/non-native labeling task, subjects were unable to distinguish between Korean syllables beginning with tense obstruents and Chinese syllables beginning with voiceless unaspirated obstruents of the same place of articulation; similar data holds for many of the Korean vs. Spanish and Korean vs. English syllable comparisons as well. These results suggest that, in word-initial position, tense Korean consonants are not perceptibly different from the voiceless unaspirated consonants of these other languages. © 2006 by Charles B. Chang.

KW - phonetics

KW - speech perception

KW - Korean

KW - English

KW - Spanish

KW - Mandarin Chinese

KW - laryngeal contrast

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SP - 35

EP - 42

BT - CamLing 2006

A2 - Chang, Charles

A2 - Dugarova, Esuna

A2 - Theodoropoulou, Irene

A2 - Beltrán, Elina Vilar

A2 - Wilford, Edward

PB - Cambridge Institute of Language Research

CY - Cambridge, UK

Y2 - 17 March 2006 through 17 March 2006

ER -

Tense consonants in Korean revisited: A crosslinguistic perceptual study

Abstract

Conference

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Research Keywords

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