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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 25, No. 0, pp.1281-1298
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2025
Received 19 Aug 2025 Revised 11 Sep 2025 Accepted 16 Sep 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.25..202509.1281

Generational and Gender Variation in the Acoustic Realization of Korean Coda /l/

Yeseul Lee ; Ilgwon Sohn
(First author) MA student, Department of English Language and Literature, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea leeelim13@gmail.com
(Corresponding author) Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Buk-gu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea igson@knu.ac.kr


© 2025 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study analyzes generational and gender-based variation in the acoustic realization of Korean coda /l/, focusing on how the manner and place of the following consonant condition velarization and retroflexion. The full formant trajectories (F2, F3) and relative indices (F2-F1, F3-F2) measured for 40 native Korean speakers in two age groups were analyzed using Generalized Additive Mixed Models. Results showed that younger speakers exhibit more advanced velarization and retroflexion consistently across acoustic measures. Female speakers show robust generational differences across most manners and places of articulation, with the strongest effects in bilabials, alveolars, and nasals, although gestures are suppressed in fricatives. Male speakers, by contrast, show fewer and more context-specific differences, largely restricted to stops and affricates, with significant shifts only in bilabials. These findings support the gender-differentiated diffusion theory, indicating that female-led changes are more advanced, whereas male realizations are more constrained by articulatory context. Overall, the results underscore the role of generational change in the ongoing phonetic shift of Korean coda /l/ and highlight the importance of considering gender and articulatory environment in models of sound change.

Keywords:

Korean coda lateral, velarization, retroflexion, gender differences, generational differences

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