The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics

Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 23
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Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 23, No. 0, pp. 1169-1193
Abbreviation: KASELL
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Received 03 Jun 2023 Revised 20 Jul 2023 Accepted 06 Dec 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.23..202312.1169

An Articulatory Study on Consonant Cluster Simplification in L1 Korean and L2 English
Gwanhi Yun
Professor, Department of English Education, Daegu University 201 Daegudae-ro, Gyeongsan Gyeongbuk, 38453, Korea Tel: 053-850-4123 (ghyun@daegu.ac.kr)


© 2023 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.
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Abstract

The present study aims to investigate to what extent and how consonant cluster simplification occurs in L1 Korean and L2 English coda consonant clusters. To this end, four types of coda clusters, including /lp/ and /lk/ were examined with Korean speakers in two ultrasound imaging experiments. Experiment 1 showed that the variability patterns in the production of coda clusters emerged, including three types of variants for /lk/ (e.g., “partial velar,” “full velar,” and “zero velar” and two types of variants for /lp/ sequences (e.g., /l/-deletion and /p/-deletion). Their realization patterns varied depending on cluster type and individual speakers. “Partial velar” variants, particularly, are indicative of gestural hiding and gestural overlap inducing articulated but inaudible consonant clusters. Experiment 2 demonstrated that no-deletion variants were more dominant than deletion forms, along with hyperarticulation variants for English CC clusters (43% vs. 37% vs 20%). These findings provide support for gradient realizations of /CCC/ clusters in L2 English such as /ptk, ktp, lpt, lkt/, depending on cluster type and L2 speakers. Compared to the production of L1 Korean CCC, “no-deletion” variants were elicited more frequently, showing the exemplars of gestural hiding and gestural overlap.

Keywords: consonant cluster simplification, Korean, English, deletion, gestural overlap, gestural hiding, coda condition, ultrasound imaging technique
Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Daegu University Research Grant, 2022.

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