Acoustic shortening and gestural reduction in English polysyllabic words by Korean L2 speakers
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초록
The present study examined the potential implementation of polysyllabic shortening process at the acousticdimension and its concomitant gestural reduction at the articulatory level by KoreanL2 speakers of English. Acoustic data were drawn from stressed syllables in Englishand articulatory data from the onset consonants of the identical syllables produced byeight Korean learners. Both the parameters were extracted from the preliminaryultrasound recordings. Analyses of the acoustic data included the measurement of theduration of the stressed syllables and their sub-syllabic constituents. Ultrasound datayielded articulatory characteristics, i.e., the placement of the tongue tip or dorsumpertinent to the production of the onset consonants of the stressed syllables containedin monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words. First, the polysyllabic shortening effectwas evident, primarily between monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. The durations ofstressed syllables as well as the onset and nucleus were shorter in longer words. Second,the onset alveolars and velars placed in the identical stressed syllables were producedwith the lower tongue tip or blade (for alveolars) and tongue dorsum (for velars) inlonger words. This finding indicates that gestural reduction co-occurs with polysyllabicshortening, especially in the onset of stressed syllables, supporting the interactionbetween temporal weakening and gestural target undershoot. Furthermore, it indicatesthat Korean L2 speakers seem to be at the developmental stage of producing a keyrhythmic pattern in L2 English.
Abstract
The present study examined the potential implementation of polysyllabic shortening process at the acousticdimension and its concomitant gestural reduction at the articulatory level by KoreanL2 speakers of English. Acoustic data were drawn from stressed syllables in Englishand articulatory data from the onset consonants of the identical syllables produced byeight Korean learners. Both the parameters were extracted from the preliminaryultrasound recordings. Analyses of the acoustic data included the measurement of theduration of the stressed syllables and their sub-syllabic constituents. Ultrasound datayielded articulatory characteristics, i.e., the placement of the tongue tip or dorsumpertinent to the production of the onset consonants of the stressed syllables containedin monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words. First, the polysyllabic shortening effectwas evident, primarily between monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. The durations ofstressed syllables as well as the onset and nucleus were shorter in longer words. Second,the onset alveolars and velars placed in the identical stressed syllables were producedwith the lower tongue tip or blade (for alveolars) and tongue dorsum (for velars) inlonger words. This finding indicates that gestural reduction co-occurs with polysyllabicshortening, especially in the onset of stressed syllables, supporting the interactionbetween temporal weakening and gestural target undershoot. Furthermore, it indicatesthat Korean L2 speakers seem to be at the developmental stage of producing a keyrhythmic pattern in L2 English.