Release bursts in English word-final stops: A longitudinal study of Korean adults’ and children’s production

Stops at the end of Korean words are always unreleased. The question addressed here was whether Korean adults and children living in the U.S. can learn to release stops at the end of English words. Four groups of 18 native Koreans (NK) who differed according to age (adult versus child) and length of residence in the U.S. (3 vs 5 years at T1) participated. Two native English (NE) groups served as age-matched controls. Production data were collected at two times (T1, T2) separated by one year. English words ending in /t/ and /k/ were then examined in perception experiments (Exp. 1, Exp. 2). NE-speaking judges decided whether the final stop has a release burst or not. Exp. 1 showed that NE talkers released /t/ more often than NK talkers did. The effect of time was also significant. Talkers produced release bursts more often at T2 than at T1. Exp. 2 showed that, unlike Exp. 1, there were significant differences between NK adults and children. While NK children did not differ from NE children, NK adults released the final /k/ much less often than NE adults did. Possible reasons for why the expected children’s advantage was seen for /k/, but not for /t/, will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]