Your browser does not support the PubReader view.
Go to this page to see a list of supporting browsers.
The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.450-474
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print)
Print publication date 31 Mar 2020
Received 08 Aug 2020 Revised 14 Sep 2020 Accepted 22 Sep 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.20..202009.450

Phonetic Implementation of the Darkness of English Word-final /l/ across Prosodic Positions: Comparison of Native English Speakers and EFL Korean Speakers

Hyang-Sook Sohn** ; Shinyoung Lim
**Kyungpook National University
Yeungjin University

** First author, Kyungpook National University


Copyright 2020 KASELL
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study investigates the way in which darkness of the word-final /l/ is implemented in two speaker groups of the native English speakers and EFL Korean speakers across three prosodic contexts, by measuring the acoustic parameters of pre-lateral vowel duration and formant frequencies at the time of onset and offset of post-peak duration. The rates of the F1 increase and those of the F2 decrease, and values of (F2-F1) indicate implementation of darker /l/ for the native English speakers compared with the Korean speakers despite shorter vowel duration. Acoustic parameters derived from the measures suggest that the two speaker groups are more dependent on tongue dorsum retraction than tongue body lowering to implement velarization. This asymmetry is particularly characteristic of the Korean speakers and is attributed to interference of the articulatory property of the Korean lateral. Prosodic strengthening was partially observed between PP and the foot level for both speaker groups, with no foot-internal distinction. Within each speaker group post-peak duration and the F2 decrease rate cumulatively increased in PP compared with the foot level, which lends supporting evidence to the undershoot effect on velarization. Prosodic effects on acoustic measures suggest that darkness of /l/ is not categorical but gradient on a phonetic continuum.

Keywords:

coarticulatory gesture, darkness of /l/, F1 raising, F2 lowering, lateral /l/, prosodic strengthening, undershoot, velarization, vowel duration

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their extensive comments and insightful suggestions. Any remaining error, however, is solely ours.

References

  • Ahn, M. 2015. Lexical status and the degree of /l/-darkening. Journal of the Korean Society of Speech Sciences 7(3), 73-78. [https://doi.org/10.13064/KSSS.2015.7.3.073]
  • Ahn, M. 2017. An acoustic study of the word-final lateral approximant in Korean. Language Research 53(2), 231-245. [https://doi.org/10.30961/lr.2017.53.2.231]
  • Benua, L. 1995. Identity effects in morphological truncation. In J. Beckman, L.W. Dickey and S. Urbanczyk, eds., University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18: Papers in Optimality Theory, 77-136. Amherst (Mass.): GLSA.
  • Boersma, P. and D. Weenink. 2019. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (Version 6.0.52). [Computerprogram]. https://www.praat.org, /.
  • Chomsky, N. and M. Halle. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. Harper Row, New York.
  • Epsy-Wilson, C. Y. 1992. Acoustic measures for linguistic features distinguishing the semivowels /w j r l/ in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 92(2), 736-757. [https://doi.org/10.1121/1.403998]
  • Hayes, B. 2000. Gradient well-formedness in optimality theory. In J. Dekkers, F. van der Leeuw and J. van de Weijer, eds., Optimality Theory: Phonology, Syntax, and Acquisition, 88-120. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Iverson, G. and H.-S. Sohn. 1994. Liquid representation in Korean. In Y.-K. Kim-Renaud, ed., Theoretical Issues in Korean Linguistics, 77-100. CSLI, Stanford University.
  • Jang, H-J, and J. Shin. 2006. An acoustic study on the generational difference of the monophthongs in the Daegu Dialect. Malsori 57(1), 15–30.
  • Kim, C.-G., H.-g. Kim and B.-M. Jeon. 2000. Speech problems of English laterals by Korean learners based on the acoustic characteristics. Korean Journal of Speech Sciences 7(3), 127-138.
  • Kim, M.-R. Cho and A. J. Lotto. 2004. Acoustic measurement of Korean approximants. The Korean Language in America 9, 70-77.
  • Kim, R.-E. and S.-C. Rhee. 2019. A study on English liquids in the rated L2 English speech corpus of Korean learners. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 19(1), 53-75.
  • Ladefoged, P. and K. Johnson. 2015. A Course in Phonetics (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
  • Lee, J-K. and Y. Kim. 2019. Korean L2 learners’ perception and production of English liquids in the speech learning model. Language and Linguistics 83, 121-152. [https://doi.org/10.20865/20198305]
  • Lee, Y., L. Goldstein and S. Narayanan. 2015. Systematic variation in the articulation of the Korean liquid across prosodic positions, Proceedings of ICPhS, 2015.
  • Lee-Kim, S.-I., L. Davidson and S. Hwang. 2013. Morphological effects on the darkness of English intervocalic. Laboratory Phonology 4(2), 475-511. [https://doi.org/10.1515/lp-2013-0015]
  • Nespor, M. and I. Vogel. 1986. Prosodic Phonology. Dordrecht: Foris. Republished 2007 by Mouton de Gruyter. Berlin and New York. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110977790]
  • Oh, S. and B. Gick. 2002. An ultrasound study of articulatory gestures of Korean /l/, Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Speech Sciences. Seoul, Korea.
  • Park, S. and T.-Y. Jang. 2016. Acoustic characteristics of English liquids produced by Korean learners of English. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 22(2), 289-315. [https://doi.org/10.17959/sppm.2016.22.2.289]
  • Sohn, H.-S. and M. Ahn. 2009. An experimental study on the vowel space of Korean and English spoken by female speakers of Daegu Dialect. The Journal of Linguistic Science 49, 117-140.
  • Sproat, R. and O. Fujimura. 1993. Allophonic variation in English /l/ and its implications for phonetic implementation. Journal of Phonetics 21, 291–311. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31340-3]
  • Stevens, K. 1998. Acoustic Phonetics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Turton, D. 2017. Categorical or gradient? An ultrasound investigation of /l/-darkening and vocalization in varieties of English. Laboratory Phonology: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology 8(1), 1–31. [https://doi.org/10.5334/labphon.35]

Sohn, Hyang˗Sook, ProfessorKyungpook National UniversityDept. of English Language and Literature80 Daehak-ro, Buk-guDaegu, KoreaE-mail: hsohn@knu.ac.kr

Lim, Shinyoung, ProfessorYeungjin UniversityBokhyun-ro, Buk-gu,Daegu, KoreaE-mail: lim725@hanmail.net