Publications

A time course of prosodic modulation in phonological inferencing: The case of Korean post-obstruent tensing

Application of a phonological rule is often conditioned by prosodic structure, which may create a potential perceptual ambiguity, calling for phonological inferencing. Three eye-tracking experiments were conducted to examine how spoken word recognition may be modulated by the interaction between the prosodically-conditioned rule application and phonological inferencing. The rule examined was post-obstruent tensing (POT) in Korean, which changes a lax consonant into a tense after an obstruent only within a prosodic domain of Accentual Phrase (AP). Results of Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that, upon hearing a derived tense form, listeners indeed recovered its underlying (lax) form. The phonological inferencing effect, however, was observed only in the absence of its tense competitor which was acoustically matched with the auditory input. In Experiment 3, a prosodic cue to an AP boundary (which blocks POT) was created before the target using an F0 cue alone (i.e., without any temporal cues), and the phonological inferencing effect disappeared. This supports the view that phonological inferencing is modulated by listeners' online computation of prosodic structure (rather than through a low-level temporal normalization). Further analyses of the time course of eye movement suggested that the prosodic modulation effect occurred relatively later in the lexical processing. This implies that speech processing involves segmental processing in conjunction with prosodic structural analysis, and calls for further research on how prosodic information is processed along with segmental information in language-specific vs. universally applicable ways.

Prosodic phrasing mediates listeners’ perception of temporal cues: Evidence from the Korean Accentual Phrase

In two experiments we examine how listeners make reference to prosodic phrasing in their perception of temporally cued segmental contrasts. We test how the prosodic-structurally conditioned modulation of segmental cues (in domain-initial strengthening) translates into speech perception. We adopt the test case of stop contrasts in Seoul Korean (aspirated versus fortis), which are cued by vowel duration and voice onset time (VOT). The phrasing manipulation was carried out at the level of the Accentual Phrase (AP), a small phrase that is marked by intonational features. The AP was chosen because it was possible to create two prosodic phrasing contexts (AP-initial versus AP-medial) by manipulating only f0 before the target segment with the duration of contextual segments unchanged, controlling for temporal context effects. In Experiment 1, listeners shift their perception of a VOT continuum based on phrasing, in line with the domain-initial strengthening pattern of post-stop vowel lengthening, where AP-initial post-fortis vowels are lengthened. Experiment 2 shows that vowel duration is used as a cue to the contrast and that perceptual categorization of vowel duration itself is also mediated by contextual phrasing information. Results thus suggest that prosodic phrasing, signaled by intonation only, mediates perception of the segmental contrast, with temporal context controlled. We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for the role of phrasing in segmental perception and in processing.

Acoustic correlates of articulatory prosodic strengthening in Korean

Recent articulatory studies [e.g., Keating, Cho, Fougeron, and Hsu (1998), forthcoming] using electropalatography have shown that consonants are generally produced with greater linguopalatal contact in domain-initial positions. This effect, known as articulatory prosodic strengthening, is generally cumulative: the higher the prosodic position, the more linguopalatal contact. The goal of this paper is to test for acoustic correlates of any such articulatory variations in Korean consonants /n,t,th,t*/ in prosodic positions (Utterance-, IP-, AP-, Word- and Syllable-initial), so that eventually the perceptual significance of such correlates can be tested. Results show that the higher domain-initial positions are associated with longer VOTs; longer ‘‘total’’ voiceless duration in closure; lower rms burst energy in stops but with substantial inter-speaker/consonantal variations; lower % of voicing during closure; and lower acoustic energy for nasal /n/. In addition, vowels in domain-initial CV were not found to be necessarily longer in a higher position whereas vowels in domain-final positions were. Linear correlations between each of the acoustic parameters and the articulatory magnitude (linguopalatal contact) will also be discussed. All in all, this study shows that articulatory strengthening in Korean does produce reliable acoustic correlates, which mark off prosodic positions in the speech signal. [Work supported by NSF.]

Individual differences in perceptual adaptability of foreign sound categories

Listeners possess a remarkable ability to adapt to acoustic variability in the realization of speech sound categories (e.g., different accents). The curren

WPP, No. 105: Optical Cues to the Visual Perception of Lexical and Phrasal Stress in English

Author(s): Scarborough, Rebecca; Keating, Patricia; Baroni, Marco; Cho, Taehong; Mattys, Sven; Alwan, Abeer; Auer, Edward, Jr.; Bernstein, Lynne | Abstract: In a study of optical cues to the visual perception of stress, three American English talkers spoke words that differed in lexical stress and sentences that differed in phrasal stress, while video and movements of the face were recorded. In a production analysis, stressed vs. unstressed syllables from these utterances were compared along many measures of facial movement, which were generally larger and faster under stress. In a visual perception study, 16 perceivers identified the location of stress in forced-choice judgments of video clips of these utterances (without audio). Phrasal stress (54% correct vs. 25% chance) was better-perceived than lexical (62% correct vs. 50% chance). The relation of the visual intelligibility of the prosody of these utterances to the optical characteristics of production is discussed, with analysis of which cues are associated with successful visual perception.

Data on preboundary lengthening in Tokyo Japanese as a function of prosodic prominence, boundary, lexical pitch accent and moraic structure

This article provides individual speakers' acoustic durational data on preboundary (phrase-final) lengthening in Japanese. The data are based on speech recorded from fourteen native speakers of Tokyo Japanese in a laboratory setting. Each speaker produced Japanese disyllabic words with four different moraic structures (CVCV, CVCVN, CVNCV, and CVNCVN, where C stands for a non-nasal onset consonant, V for a vowel, and N for a moraic nasal coda) and two pitch accent patterns (initially-accented and unaccented). The target words were produced in carrier sentences in which they were placed in two different prosodic boundary conditions (Intonational Phrase-final ('IPf') and Intonational Phrase-medial ('IPm')) and two focus contexts (focused and unfocused). The measured raw values of acoustic duration of each segment in different conditions are included in a CSV-formatted file. Another CSV-formatted file is provided with numeric calculations in both absolute and relative terms that exhibit the magnitude of preboundary lengthening across different prominence contexts (focused/unfocused and initially-accented/unaccented). The absolute durational difference was obtained as a numeric increase of preboundary lengthening of each segment produced in phrase-final position versus phrase-medial position (i.e., Δ(IPf-IPm) where 'f' = 'final' and 'm' = 'medial'). The relative durational difference was obtained as a percentage increase of preboundary lengthening in IP-final position versus IP-medial position, which was calculated by the absolute durational difference divided by the duration of the segment in phrase-medial position and then multiplied by 100 (i.e., (Absolute difference/IPm)*100). This article also provides figures that exemplify speaker variation in terms of absolute and relative differences of preboundary lengthening as a function of pitch accent. Some theoretical aspects of the data are discussed in the full-length article entitled "Preboundary lengthening in Japanese: To what extent do lexical pitch accent and moraic structure matter?" [1].

The glottal stop between segmental and suprasegmental processing: The case of Maltese

Many languages mark vowel-initial words with a glottal stop. We show that this occurs in Maltese, even though the glottal stop also occurs as a phoneme in Maltese. As a consequence, words with and without an underlying (phonemic) glottal stop (e.g., a glottal stop-zero minimal pair qal /Ɂɑ:l/ vs. ghal /ɑ:l/ Engl., 'he said'-'because') can become homophonous in connected speech. We first tested the extent of this phonetic marking of vowel-initial words in a production experiment and found that even in fluent productions, about half of the vowel-initial words are marked with an epenthetic glottal stop. The epenthetic glottal stop is more likely to occur when the preceding word is longer, showing a kind of preboundary lengthening at a phrase-level prosodic boundary. A subsequent perception study (Experiment 2) using a two-alternative forced-choice task with a minimal pair of a glottal stop-initial and a vowel-initial word indicated that listeners are sensitive to the durationally conditioned prosodic context before the test word, and they are more likely to perceive a vowel-initial word when the preceding word is lengthened. An additional eye-tracking study (Experiment 3) using onset-overlap pairs (e.g., qafla /Ɂɑflɑ/ - afda, /ɑfdɑ/ → [Ɂɑfda], Engl., 'to trust' - 'chord') showed no early influence of prosodic cues on segmental processing. But a gating experiment (Experiment 4) replicated the prosodic effect observed in Experiment 2. Taken together, our results indicate an interaction between prosodic processing and segmental processing that comes into effect relatively late in speech processing.

Acoustic Data on Vowel Nasalization Across Prosodic Conditions in L1 Korean and L2 English by Native Korean Speakers

This article presents acoustic data on coarticulatory vowel nasalization from the productions of twelve L1 Korean speakers and of fourteen Korean learners of L2 English. The dataset includes eight monosyllabic target words embedded in eight carrier sentences, each repeated four times per speaker. Half of the words contain a nasal coda such as p*am in Korean and bomb in English and the other half a nasal onset such as mat in Korean and mob in English. These were produced under varied prosodic conditions, including three phrase positions and two focus conditions, enabling analysis of prosodic effects on vowel nasalization across languages along with individual speaker variation. The accompanying CSV files provide acoustic measurements such as nasal consonant duration, A1-P0, and normalized A1-P0 at multiple timepoints within the vowel. While theoretical implications have been discussed in two published studies, the full dataset is published here. By making these data publicly available, we aim to promote broad reuse and encourage further research at the intersection of prosody, phonetics, and second language acquisition—ultimately advancing our understanding of how phonetic patterns emerge, transfer, and vary across languages and learners.

Effects of initial position versus prominence in English

This study investigates effects of three prosodic factors—prosodic boundary (Utterance-initial vs. Utterance-medial), lexical stress (primary vs. secondary) and phrasal accent (accented vs. unaccented)—on articulatory and acoustic realizations of word-initial CVs (/nε/, /tε/) in trisyllabic English words. The consonantal measures were linguopalatal Peak contact and Release contacts (by electropalatography), Seal duration, Nasal duration and Nasal energy for /n/, VOT, RMS burst energy and spectral Center of Gravity at the release for /t/; and the vocalic measures were linguopalatal Vowel contact, Vowel F1, Vowel duration and Vowel amplitude. Several specific points emerge. Firstly, domain-initial articulation is differentiated from stress- or accent-induced articulations along several measures. Secondly, the vowel is effectively louder domain-initially, suggesting that the boundary effect is not strictly local to the initial consonant. Thirdly, some accentual effects can be seen in secondary-stressed syllables, suggesting that accentual influences spread beyond the primary-stressed syllable. Finally, unlike domain-initial effects, prominence effects are not cumulative. Thus we conclude that, at least for the kind of word-initial syllables tested here, different aspects of prosodic structure (domain boundary vs. prominence) are differentially encoded.

What is special about prosodic strengthening in Korean: Evidence in lingual movement in V#V and V#CV.

The present study investigates effects of Boundary and Prominence (focus) on the /a/-to-/i/ tongue movement in Korean in two contexts: V#V and V#/m/V. Results show that the tongue movement at an IP boundary is larger, longer, and faster. Prominence effects show a relatively weaker but comparable pattern to the boundary effect, showing a larger, longer, and faster movement. The observed boundary-induced strengthening pattern in Korean is clearly different from that in English, implying that Korean, a language without constraints from the lexical stress system, has more freedom to strengthen articulation at prosodic junctures, creating strengthening patterns which are often encountered with prominence marking in English. Results also reveal that the presence of a consonant influences transboundary vocalic movement, and that the consonantal influence is further modulated by boundary strength. These results taken together are further discussed in terms of language-specificity of prosodic strengthening and its implications for the pi-gesture model.

Re-examining the effect of phonological similarity between the native- and second-language intonational systems in second-language speech segmentation

This study investigates how phonological and phonetic aspects of the native-language (L1) intonation modulate the use of tonal cues in second-language (L2) speech segmentation. Previous research suggested that prosodic learning is more difficult if the L1 and L2 intonations are phonologically similar but phonetically different (French–Korean) than if they are phonologically different (English–French/Korean) (Prosodic-Learning Interference Hypothesis; Tremblay, Broersma, Coughlin & Choi, 2016). This study provides another test of this hypothesis. Korean listeners and French-speaking and English-speaking L2 learners of Korean in Korea completed an eye-tracking experiment investigating the effects of phrase tones in Korean. All groups patterned similarly with the phrase-final tone, but, unlike Korean and French listeners, English listeners showed early benefits from the phrase-initial tone (signaling word-initial boundaries in English). Importantly, French listeners patterned like Korean listeners with both tones. The Prosodic-Learning Interference Hypothesis is refined to suggest that prosodic learning difficulties may not be persistent for immersed L2 learners.

Stability of CV Intergestural Timing and Coordination as a Function of Prosodic Boundary and Syllable Structure in Korean.

Limits of short-term perceptual training for enhancing Seoul-Korean listeners’ use of English lexical stress in spoken word recognition

This study investigates whether short-term perceptual training can enhance Seoul-Korean listeners’ use of English lexical stress in spoken word recognition. Unlike English, Seoul Korean does not have lexical stress (or lexical pitch accents/tones). Seoul-Korean speakers at a high-intermediate English proficiency completed a visual-world eye-tracking experiment adapted from Connell et al. (2018) (pre-/post-test). The experiment tested whether pitch in the target stimulus (accented versus unaccented first syllable) and vowel quality in the lexical competitor (reduced versus full first vowel) modulated fixations to the target word (e.g., PARrot; ARson) over the competitor word (e.g., paRADE or PARish; arCHIVE or ARcade). In the training (eight 30-min sessions over eight days), participants heard English lexical-stress minimal pairs uttered by four talkers (high variability) or one talker (low variability), categorized them as noun (first-syllable stress) or verb (second-syllable stress), and received accuracy feedback. The results showed that neither training increased target-over-competitor fixation proportions. Crucially, the same training had been found to improve Seoul- Korean listeners’ recall of English words differing in lexical stress (Tremblay et al., 2022) and their weighting of acoustic cues to English lexical stress (Tremblay et al., 2023). These results suggest that short-term perceptual training has a limited effect on target-over-competitor word activation.

An apparent-time study of an ongoing sound change in Seoul Korean: A prosodic account

In present-day Seoul Korean, the primary phonetic feature for the lenis–aspirated stop distinction is shifting from VOT to F0. Some previous studies have considered this sound change to be a tonogenesis, whereby the low-level F0 perturbation has developed into tonal features (L for the lenis and H for the aspirated) in the segmental phonology. They, however, have examined the stop distinction only at a phrase- or utterance-initial position. We newly explore the sound change in relation to various prosodic structural factors (position and prominence). Apparent-time production data were recorded from four speaker groups: young female, young male, old female, old male. The way the speakers use VOT versus F0 indeed varies as a function of position and prominence. Crucially, in all groups, VOT is still used for the lenis–aspirated distinction phrase-medially due to the lenis stop voicing. This role of VOT, however, is found only in the non-prominent (unfocused) condition, in which the F0 difference is reduced to a low-level perturbation effect. In the prominent (focused) context in which tones come into play, the role of VOT diminishes, led by young female speakers. These can be interpreted as a prosodically-conditioned, complementary use of the features to maintain sufficient contrast. Importantly, however, the tonal difference under focus is not bidirectionally polarized, so that F0 is not lowered for the lenis stop. A lack of direct enhancement of the distinctive L tone weakens a possibility that F0 is transphonologized to the phonemic feature system of the language. As an alternative to the view that tonal features are newly introduced in the segmental phonology, we propose a prosodic account: the sound change is best characterized as a prosodically-conditioned change in the use of the segmental voicing feature (implemented by VOT) versus already available post-lexical tones in the intonational phonology of Korean.

Production of coda voicing contrast of L2 English by native Mandarin Chinese speakers in comparison with native Korean speakers

This study investigates native language effects on phonetic encoding of coda voicing contrast in L2 English by Chinese versus Korean speakers. Results show much smaller phonetic differences in both vowel duration and F0 in marking coda voicing contrast for Chinese speakers than Korean speakers, despite native Chinese speakers' experience with lexical tones. They suggest that producing an F0-related cue in L2 is conditioned by position-specific phonological richness and use of F0 in the speaker's L1. The results are discussed in terms of contrast maximization and effort minimization with reference to the information structure occurring in both L1 and L2.

Lexical stress, phrasal accent and prosodic boundaries in the realization of domain-initial stops in Dutch

No abstract is provided for this article.

WPP, No. 106: Effects of Initial Position versus Prominence in English

UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics No. 106, pp. 1-33 Effects of initial position versus prominence in English Taehong Cho Hanyang University, Korea tcho@hanyang.ac.kr Patricia Keating keating@humnet.ucla.edu Abstract This study investigates effects of three prosodic factors—prosodic boundary (Utterance-initial vs. Utterance-medial), lexical stress (primary vs. secondary) and phrasal accent (accented vs. unaccented)—on articulatory and acoustic realizations of word-initial CVs (/ne/, /te/) in trisyllabic English words. Articulatory measurements include linguopalatal contact (by electropalatography) for both C and V, and seal duration; acoustic measurements include nasal duration and energy for /n/, VOT, burst energy and spectral center of gravity for /t/, and F1, vowel duration and vowel amplitude for /e/. Several specific points emerge. First, domain-initial articulation is differentiated from stress- or accent-induced articulations in many aspects; for the most part, prominence affects vowel measures while initial position affects consonant measures. Nonetheless, the vowel is also effectively louder domain-initially, suggesting that the boundary effect is not strictly local to the initial consonant. Second, the boundary (domain-initial) effect is not seen across-the-board, but is often constrained by stress and accent factors, revealing that domain-initial strengthening is more effective when a relevant phonetic dimension does not undergo a compelling strengthening coming from stress or accent. Third, some accentual effects can be seen on secondary-stressed syllables, suggesting that accentual influences spread beyond the primary-stressed syllable. But this spread is mainly seen with consonantal measures, showing an asymmetric accentual influence between consonantal and vocalic articulations. 1. Introduction Prosodic structure has been widely recognized as an essential element of speech production, as it conveys a great deal of both structural and discourse information (Selkirk, 1995; Swerts & Geluykens, 1994; Herman, 2000). A large body of phonetic studies in the past two decades has increasingly demonstrated the importance of fine-grained phonetic detail in building up differential prosodic structures of utterances. One of the most conspicuous phonetic hallmarks of prosodic structure is domain-final lengthening (e.g. Klatt, 1975; Wightman et al., 1992; Gussenhoven & Rietveld, 1992, Edwards, Beckman & Fletcher, 1991; Cho, 2002, 2006; Byrd,

Statistical Patterns in Consonant Cluster Simplification in Seoul Korean

This study examines how young speakers of Seoul Korean produce tri-consonantal clusters /lkt/ and /lpt/ as in palk-ta (‘'to be bright’') and palp-ta (‘'to step on’'). Production data were collected from 20 speakers of Seoul Korean. The results of narrow transcription of the data showed that simplification is not obligatory as some speakers often preserve all three consonants. When simplified, there was a clear asymmetry between /lkt/ and /lpt/. Speakers showed no clear preference for either C1 preservation (C1=/l/) or C2 preservation (C2=/k/ in /lkt/ and /p/ in /lpt/) in production of /lkt/, but in production of /lpt/, strong preference was found for C1-preserved to C2-preserved variant. When compared with production data in Cho (1999), simplification patterns appear to have changed over the past 10 years, in a direction to preserve the first member of the cluster (/l/) more often, especially with /lkt/. There was no substantial between-item variation, indicating that simplification patterns are not lexically specified. Finally, the results suggest that the process of tri-consonantal simplification has not been fully phonologized in the grammar of the language as evident in substantial inter-and intra-speaker variation.