Processing English s into Korean

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Processing English s into Korean
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Background

• Port Dalby (1982) Consonant/Vowel Ratio is an
  important perceptual cue for voicing distinction
  in English.
• Denes (1955) Voicing of final s in English
  depends on the relative duration of the frication
  of s and the duration of the preceding vowel.
• Kang, H. S-Y Kang (work in progress) Closure
  duration of the stop and the duration of the
  preceding vowel are important perceptual cues for
  the intervocalic Tense/Lax stop distinction in
  Korean. A case of lenition in the intervocalic
  position.
• Kang, H. K. Yoon (work in progress) Duration
  of frication and the duration of the preceding
  vowel are important perceptual cues for the
  distinction of tense/lax fricative in the
  intervocalic position in Korean. Again, a case of
  lenition in the intervocalic position.

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2. Research Questions

• Does closure/frication duration only affect the
  perception of voicing in the intervocalic
  position as it is in English Dutch?
• If important perceptual cues for tense/lax stops
  fricatives in intervocalic position in Korean
  are closure/frication duration and the duration
  of the preceding Vowel (Kang, H S-Y Kang, Kang,
  H K. Yoon), will closure/frication duration
  affect Koreans perception of English sound in
  the intervocalic position as well?
• For example, English has only one alveolar
  fricative s whereas Korean has two alveolar
  fricatives, namely tense S and lax s. Could
  the duration of English s in the intervocalic
  position affect its perception by Korean
  speakers?
• Shouldnt this phenomenon be understood as an
  instance of lenition in the intervocalic position?

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3. Experimental Variables

• a. Frication Duration
• b. Preceding Vowel Duration
• c. Following Vowel Duration
• d. Amplitude of the fricative

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4. Methods

• a. Manipulation of the duration of fricative s
  and adjacent vowel(s) by lengthening, shortening,
  and increasing the amplitude
• b. Perception Test (Forced Type) of choosing
  either Tense S or Lax s after hearing
  manipulated English words with s
• c. All the experiments used PSOLA method and
  naturally spoken stimuli.

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5. Prediction

• Perception plays an important role in loanword
  adaptation.
• Perception of English s in the intervocalic
  position will be perceived differently by Korean
  speakers depending on the duration of the
  frication and the duration of the preceding vowel
  since language speakers perception is influenced
  by their native language.

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6. Three experiments

• 6-1 Experiment 1 manipulation of the duration of
  preceding vowel and the duration of frication s
• 6-2 Experiment 2 manipulation of the duration of
  the preceding vowel, s and the following vowel
• 6-3 Experiment 3 manipulation of the amplitude
  of s

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6-1 Experiment 1 Manipulation of Preceding Vowel
and s

• Perception of Intervocalic English s bison
  b?s?n peace pis
• Both are perceived as VsV by Korean speakers
  due to Korean Phonotactic Constraint.

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6-1-1 b?s?n

• Manipulation of Preceding Vowel and s
• Original V1 60ms, s 142 ms
• V1 length (5steps) 100ms, 80ms, 60ms,.., 20ms
• Length of s (8steps) 142ms, 127ms, .., 37ms
• Stimuli 15 subjects (group 1) 40 stimulis 4
  repetition 2400 tokens
• (for each stimulus, 60 tokens)

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• Stepwise Regression
• R2 R2
• Cons 52.32 C/V ratio 59.95
• Vowel 87.31
• Conclusion Both consonant Duration and the
  duration of the preceding vowel affect English
  ss being perceived either tense S or lax
  s. C/V ratio does not seem to give as
  compatible results as that of C duration and V
  duration together.

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6-1-2 peace

• Original V1 0.186ms s 305 ms
• Manipulation of V1 and s
• Vowel 0.186ms, 0.166ms, 146ms, .. 106ms
• (5steps)
• Consonant 395ms, 365ms, 335ms, ...155ms
  (9steps)
• 15subjects (group 1)45stimuli4 repetition
• (for each stimulus, 60 tokens)

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• Stepwise Regression
• R2 R2
• Vowel 82.87 C/V ratio 35.21
• Consonant 84.57
• Conclusion When English s is word-final,
  preceding Vowel Duration mainly affects the
  percent identification of the alveolar fricative
  as S.

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• Why perception difference between s in
  intervocalic position and s in word-final
  position.
• Suggestion a. maybe lack of second vowel does
  not provide Korean speakers with clear frication
  duration of s
• b. Syllable- or Word-final s has low intensity,
  etc. and thus, cannot be easily perceived.

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6-2 Experiment 2 Effect of the following vowel

• Group 2 (11subjects 32 Stimuli4 repetition)
• bison
• Original V1 60ms, s 142ms V2n 305ms
• V1(2 steps 80 ms, 40 ms)
• s(8steps, 142ms, 127ms,.., 37ms)
• V2n(2 steps 455 ms, 155 ms)
• 11subjects32stimuli4 repetition
• For each stimulus, 44 tokens

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• b?s?n (VCV)
• Stepwise Regression
• R2
• Consonant D. 52.90
• Vowel 1 80.11
• Vowel 2 84.34
• In intervocalic position, consonant duration and
  the preceding vowel mainly affects the perception
  of s.

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Experiment 6-3 Amplitude Change

• Mean Intensity of s in b?s?n 71dB
• V1 80ms, 60ms
• Amplitude 100 71dB
• Amplitude 200 76-77dB
• Amplitude 300 79-80dB

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• b?s?n
• Stepwise Regression Res versus C1
• R2
• Consonant 71.06
• Vowel 1 88.91
• Consonant duration becomes more influential.

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• 6-3-2 peace pis
• amplitude 100 60.5dB
• amplitude 200 64-65dB
• amplitude 300 67-68dB

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• Stepwise Regression
• R2
• Consonant D 33
• Amplitude 47
• Vowel 50

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• When intensity of fricative increases, Korean
  perceive frication duration better.
• Korean has voiceless vowel deletion, and thus,
  when the following vowel is absent (or deleted),
  the duration of the preceding fricative is better
  perceived if it has strong intensity.

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7. Conclusion

• Closure/frication duration and the duration of
  the preceding vowel affect Koreans perception of
  English s sound in the intervocalic position.
  This is due to Korean phonotactic constraint.
• This should be understood as a case of lenition
  in intervocalic position. In Korean, other
  consonants like l-D show this alternation.
  Geminate liquid appear as l whereas singleton
  l becomes flap in intervocalic position.
  Tense/lax stops also show this type of
  alternation in intervocalic position (H. Kang
  S-Y Kang, H. Kang K. Yoon (work in progress)).