Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:22:35.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Language-Specific Phonology of Heritage Perception

The Case of Korean Intervocalic Stops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

By
Seung-Eun Chang
Edited by
Rajiv Rao
Rajiv Rao
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Get access

Summary

This study investigates the effect of changes in voice onset time (VOT) on heritage speakers’ perception of Korean intervocalic stops (i.e., /p, t, k/), and compares their results to those of Korean monolinguals and second language (L2) learners of Korean who are L1 speakers of American English or Mandarin Chinese. A discrimination task using five synthetic /C1V1C2V2/ stimuli that differed in VOT of C2 was created to test inter-group differences. While the L2 learners display categorical awareness of VOT variation, Korean and heritage speakers perceive the two consonants to be the same for most stimuli regardless of VOT values. This unexpected lack of attention to VOT variation among heritage speakers suggests that they may switch their language mode to Korean and activate Korean phonology in discriminating non-phonemic VOT differences. However, their responses are not uniform or robust, with some showing a pattern similar to that of L2 learners, revealing strong individual differences among heritage speakers.

Keywords

American Englishintervocalic stopsKoreanMandarinperceptionUSvoiceless stopsvoice onset timeVOT
Type
Chapter
Information
The Phonetics and Phonology of Heritage Languages , pp. 190 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, A. S., & Lisker, L. (1985). Relative power of cues: F0 shift versus voice timing. In Fromkin, V. A. (Ed.), Phonetic linguistics: Essays in honor of Peter Ladefoged (pp. 25–33). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Babel, M., & Johnson, K. (2010). Accessing psycho-acoustic perception and language-specific perception with speech sounds. Laboratory Phonology, 1, 179–205. www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/labphon.2010.009/html.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2011). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 5.4. www.Praat.org/.Google Scholar
Bond, Z. S., & Fokes, J. (1991). Perception of English voicing by native and nonnative adults. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 471–492. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100010299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caramazza, A, Yeni-Komshian, G. H, Zurif, E. B., & Carbone, E. (1973). The acquisition of a new phonological contrast: The case of stop consonants in French–English bilinguals. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 54(2), 421–428. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1913594.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casillas, J., & Simonet, M. (2018). Perceptual categorization and bilingual language modes: Assessing the double phonemic boundary in early and late bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics, 71, 51–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.07.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C. B. (2016). Bilingual perceptual benefits of experience with a heritage language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(4), 791–809. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728914000261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C. B. (2018). Perceptual attention as the locus of transfer to nonnative speech perception. Journal of Phonetics, 68, 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.03.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C. B., & Yao, Y. (2016). Toward an understanding of heritage prosody: Acoustic and perceptual properties of tone produced by heritage, native, and second language speakers of Mandarin. Heritage Language Journal, 13(2), 134–160. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.13.2.4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, S.-E. & Mandock, K. (2019). A phonetic study of Korean heritage learners’ production in Korean word-initial stops. Heritage Language Journal, 16(3), 273–295. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.16.3.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, S.-E., & Weiss-Cowie, S. (2021). Hyper-articulation effects in Korean glides by heritage language learners. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25(1), 3–20. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1367006920935512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, A. (2019). VOT merger and f0 contrast in heritage Korean in California. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 25(1), Article 9.Google Scholar
Cheon, S. Y., & Lee, T. (2013). Perception of Korean stops by heritage and non-heritage learners: Pedagogical implications for beginning learners. The Korean Language in America, 18, 23–39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42922375?seq=1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, T., Jun, S.-A., & Ladefoged, P. (2002). Acoustic and aerodynamic correlates of Korean stops and fricatives. Journal of Phonetics, 30, 193–228. https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.2001.0153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, T., & McQueen, J. M. (2006). Phonological versus phonetic cues in native and non-native listening: Korean and Dutch listeners’ perception of Dutch and English consonants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119(5), 3085–3096. https://site.hanyang.ac.kr/documents/24916/113960/Cho_McQueen_2006_JASA.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dupoux, E., Kakehi, K., Hirose, Y., Pallier, C., & Mehler, J. (1999). Epenthetic vowels in Japanese: A perceptual illusion? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25(6), 1568–1578. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.25.6.1568.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Eefting, W. (1987). Cross-language switching in stop consonant perception and production by Dutch speakers of English. Speech Communication, 6(3), 185–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-6393(87)90025-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., & MacKay, R. A. (2004). Perceiving vowels in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104026117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzales, K., & Lotto, A. J. (2013). A Bafri, un Pafri: Bilinguals’ pseudoword identifications support language-specific phonetic systems. Psychological Science, 24, 2135–2142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613486485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosjean, F. (1985). The bilingual as a competent but specific speaker-hearer. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 6, 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.1985.9994221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1988) Exploring the recognition of guest words in bilingual speech. Language and Cognitive Processes, 3(3), 233–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690968808402089.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1998). Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 131–149. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672899800025X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2001). The bilingual’s language modes. In Nicol, J. (Ed.), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing (pp. 1–22). Blackwell. www.francoisgrosjean.ch/bilin_bicult/7.%20Grosjean.pdf.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2009). Studying bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31(1), 133–134. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263109090111.Google Scholar
Gurevich, N. (2004). Lenition and contrast: The functional consequences of certain phonetically conditioned sound changes. Routledge.Google Scholar
Han, J. (2000). Intervocalic stop voicing revisited. Speech Sciences, 7, 203–216. www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO200015637238218.page.Google Scholar
Jun, S. (1995). Asymmetrical prosodic effects on the laryngeal gesture in Korean. In Connell, B. & Arvaniti, A. (Eds.), Phonology and phonetic evidence: Papers in Laboratory Phonology IV (pp. 235–253). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511554315.017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, K.-H., & Guion, S. (2008). Clear speech production of Korean stops: Changing phonetics targets and enhancement strategies. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124(6), 3909–3917. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2988292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, J.-Y. (2019). Discrepancy between heritage speakers’ use of suprasegmental cues in the perception and production of Spanish lexical stress. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(2), 233–250. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918001220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, S., Cho, T., & McQueen, J. M. (2012). Phonetic richness can outweigh prosodically-driven phonological knowledge when learning words in an artificial language. Journal of Phonetics, 40(3), 443–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2012.02.005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kissling, E. M. (2018). An exploratory study of heritage Spanish rhotics: Addressing methodological challenges of heritage language phonetics research. Heritage Language Journal, 15(1), 25–70. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.15.1.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klatt, D. H. (1975). Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration in word-initial consonant cluster. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 18(4), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.1804.686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee-Ellis, S. (2012). Looking into bilingualism through the heritage speaker’s mind [Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park].Google Scholar
Liberman, M., & Pierrehumbert, J. (1984). Intonational invariance under changes in pitch range and length. In Aronoff, M. & Oehrle, R. T. (Eds.), Language, sound, structure: Studies in phonology presented to Morris Halle by his teachers and students (pp. 157–223). MIT Press. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/ldc/llog/LP2.pdf.Google Scholar
Medina, V., Hoonhorst, I., Caroline, B., & Semiclaes, W. (2010). Development of voicing perception in French: Comparing adults, adolescents, and children. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 493–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2010.06.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oh, J., Au, T., & Jun, S.-A. (2010). Early childhood language memory in the speech perception of international adoptees. Journal of Child Language, 37(5), 1123–1132. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000909990286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohala, J. J. 1981. Articulatory constraints on the cognitive representation of speech. In Myers, T., Laver, J., & Anderson, J. (Eds.), The cognitive representation of speech (pp. 111–122). North Holland. http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~ohala/papers/artic_constraints.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, R. (2015). Manifestations of /bdg/ in heritage speakers of Spanish. Heritage Language Journal, 12(1), 48–74. https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.12.1.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rochet, B. L., & Fei, Y. (1991). Effect of consonant and vowel context on Mandarin Chinese VOT: Production and perception. Canadian Acoustics, 19(4), 105–106. https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/691.Google Scholar
Schertz, J., Cho, T., Lotto, A., & Warner, N. (2015). Individual differences in phonetic cue use in production and perception of a non-native sound contrast. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2015.07.003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, A. (1996). Cross-language identification of consonants. Part 1. Korean perception of English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99(5), 3201–3211. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.414804.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silbert, N., & de Jong, K. (2008). Focus, prosodic context, and phonological feature specification: Patterns of variation in fricative production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5), 2769–2779. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2890736.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silva, D. J. (2006). Acoustic evidence for the emergence of tonal contrast in contemporary Korean. Phonology, 23(2), 287–308. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675706000911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonet, M. (2014). The phonetics and phonology of bilingualism. In Oxford Academic, online edition, Oxford handbook topics in linguistics. Oxford University Press. www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935345-e-72.Google Scholar
Sohn, H.-M. (2001). The Korean language. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sundara, M., & Polka, L. (2008). Discrimination of coronal stops by bilingual adults: The timing and nature of language interaction. Cognition, 106(1), 234–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.01.011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×