Articulatory and acoustic characteristics of the Korean and English word-final laterals produced by Korean female learners of American English

Young Hwang; Steven M Lulich; Kenneth J de Jong

doi:10.1121/1.5134656

Articulatory and acoustic characteristics of the Korean and English word-final laterals produced by Korean female learners of American English

J Acoust Soc Am. 2019 Nov;146(5):EL444. doi: 10.1121/1.5134656.

Authors

Young Hwang¹, Steven M Lulich², Kenneth J de Jong³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Linguistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USAhwang24@indiana.edu.
² Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USAslulich@indiana.edu.
³ Department of Linguistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USAkdejong@indiana.edu.

PMID: 31795711
DOI: 10.1121/1.5134656

Abstract

English [ɫ] exhibits retracted tongue dorsum and low F2 frequencies compared to Korean [l], but is frequently asserted to be perceptually similar to Korean [l] and therefore difficult for Korean learners to acquire due to articulatory transfer. This study examines the articulatory and acoustic characteristics of Korean and English word-final laterals produced by Korean learners. Korean learners' productions of English [ɫ] were systematically different from Korean [l], with retracted tongue dorsum and low F2 similar to L1 English [ɫ]. The findings suggest Korean learners form a distinct phonetic category for English [ɫ] rather than modifying an existing Korean category.