Phonetics and Speech Sciences (말소리와 음성과학)

Korean Society of Speech Sciences (한국음성학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Vowel length difference before voiced/voiceless consonants in English and Korean

  • Received : 2017.11.01
  • Accepted : 2017.12.08
  • Published : 2017.12.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

The existence and the extent of vowel length difference before voiced/voiceless consonants in English and Korean are examined in three groups: (1) Korean-speaking Americans (group A), (2) immigrants who moved to the U.S. in their early teens (group I), and (3) Koreans who have been in the U.S. for less than 3 years (group K). 14 subjects were recorded reading 10 English and 10 Korean sentences. The results show that the three groups exhibit different patterns of the vowel length difference: Group A shows a very strong tendency of vowel lengthening before voiced consonants in both English and Korean, while Group I shows less degree of vowel lengthening, and Group K shows almost no tendency of vowel length difference in both languages. This strongly suggests that, (1) unlike English, Korean does not have the vowel length difference depending on the following consonants, and (2) the vowel lengthening effect observed in Korean (L2) speech in group A may be the result of transfer of the phonetic trait acquired in English (L1). It also implies that, in teaching pronunciation, some facts such as the vowel length difference cannot be expected to be acquired automatically for the learners of English, but have to be taught explicitly.

Keywords

References

  1. Birdsong, D. (1999). Introduction: Whys and why nots for the critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition. In D. Birdsong (Ed.), Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis (pp. 1-22). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associations.
  2. Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2015). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer. Retrieved from http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/ on March 31, 2017.
  3. Chen, M. (1970). Vowel length variation as a function of the voicing of the consonant environment. Phonetica, 22(3), 129-159. https://doi.org/10.1159/000259312
  4. Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, S. (1982). Language two. New York: Oxford University Press.
  5. Fischer-Jorgensen, E. (1964). Sound duration and place of articulation. Zeitschrift fur Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung, 17, 175-208.
  6. Flege, J., Yeni-Komshian, G., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 41(1), 78-104. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1999.2638
  7. Fowler, C. (1992). Vowel duration and closure duration in voiced and unvoiced stops: There are no contrast effects here. Journal of Phonetics, 20(1), 143-165.
  8. House, A. (1961). On vowel duration in english. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 33(9), 1174-1178. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1908941
  9. House, A., & Fairbanks, G. (1953). The influence of consonantal environment upon the secondary acoustical characteristics of vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 25, 105-113. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1906982
  10. Jarvis, S., & Odlin, T. (2000). Morphological type, spatial reference, and language transfer. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22(4), 535-556. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100004034
  11. Javkin, H. (1976). The perceptual basis of vowel duration differences associated with the voiced/voiceless distinction. Report of the Phonology Laboratory, 1, 78-92.
  12. Kim, J.-E. (2011). A study on the correlation between English word-final stop and vowel duration produced by speakers of Korean. Phonetics and Speech Science, 3(1). 15-22. (김지은 (2011). 한국인 영어 학습자의 어말 폐쇄음가 선행 모음 길이의 상관관계 연구. 말소리와 음성과학, 3(1). 15-22.)
  13. Kluender, K., Diehl, R., & Wright, B. (1988). Vowel-length differences before voiced and voiceless consonants: An auditory explanation. Journal of Phonetics, 16(2), 153-169.
  14. Ladefoged, P. (2007). A course in phonetics (5th edition). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.
  15. Lisker, L. (1974). On "explaining" vowel duration variation. Glossa, 8(2), 233-246.
  16. Maddieson, I., & Gandour, J. (1975). Vowel length before stops of contrasting series. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 58(S1), S61.
  17. Odlin, T. (1989). Language transfer (1st edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  18. Odlin, T. (2003). Cross-linguistic influence. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 436-486). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
  19. Peterson, G., & Lehiste, I. (1960). Duration of syllable nuclei in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 32(6), 693-703. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1908183
  20. Sharf, D. (1962). Duration of post-stress intervocalic stops and preceding vowels. Language and Speech, 5(1), 26-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383096200500103
  21. Slis, I., & Cohen, A. (1969). On the complex regulating the voiced-voiceless distinction II. Language and Speech, 12, 137-155. https://doi.org/10.1177/002383096901200301