The objectives of this study were to clarify acoustic characteristics of Korean stops and to investigate and compare Indonesian Javanese and Sundanese non native Korean speaker’s VOT and Korean native speaker’s VOT production of stops. The acoustic analysis was accomplished by measuring the Korean stops (ㄱ/k, ㄲ/kʔ, ㅋ/kh, ㄷ/t, ㄸ/tʔ, ㅌ/th, ㅂ/p, ㅃ/pʔ, ㅍ/ph) VOT in word-initial position and word-medial positions. The comparison of the VOT was conducted on place of articulation, manner of articulation, and the environment of word(in word-initial and word-medial positions).
The result of the acoustic analysis indicated that the VOT of plain stops and aspirated stops pronounced by Korean speakers had significant differences between word-initial and word-medial positions. Moreover, plain stops and aspirated stop VOT in word-initial were longer than that of word-medial positions. There was not significant difference between the VOT of tensed stops in word-initial and word-medial positions. In the case of Javanese and Sundanese, there is not difference on their VOT in word-initial position and word-medial positions.
Based on place of articulation, velar stops has longer VOT than alveolar stops or bilabial stops. In word-initial and word-medial position, based on place of articulation Korean and Javanese’s VOT were ‘velar stops > alveolar > bilabial’ ordering, while that of Sundanese’s VOT was ‘velar stops > bilabial > alveolar’ ordering.
Based on manner of articulation, aspirated stops have longer VOT than tensed stops or plain stops. In word-initial position, Korean and Javanese’s VOT were ‘aspirated stops > plain stops > tensed stops’, while that of Sundanese’s VOT was ‘aspirated stops > tensed stops > plain stops’. in word-initial position, Korean plain stops is unvoiced but voiced in word-medial positions. Therefore in word-medial position, Korean and Sundanese’s VOT were ‘aspiration>tensed stops>plain stops’. But VOT of Javanese in word-medial position was similar to that in word-initial position of ‘aspirated stops > plain stops > tense stops’.
In word-medial position, plain stops pronounced by Korean, Sundanese, and Javanese is voiced, but voiced pronounced by Javanese is different than others. Javanese voiced are pronounced like voiceless stops with breathy voice of the following vowel. Therefore, in word-initial or word-medial position, Javanese and Sundanese plain stops VOT are different. In word-medial position, Javanese and Korean plain stops VOT different as well.
In word-initial position and word-medial position, tensed stops pronounced by Korean or Indonesian(Javanese or Sundanese) have no significant difference. tensed stops pronounced by Javanese or Sundanese have longer VOT than tensed stops pronounced by Korean. However, T-test analysis demonstrated that, compared to plain stops and aspirated stops, tensed stops pronounced by Indonesian are most similar with Korean pronunciation.
Among Indonesian stops consonants, none of them have features of aspiration. Therefore Indonesians tend to be have difficulty in pronouncing Korean aspirated stops. In word-initial position, aspirated stops pronounced by Korean have longer VOT than aspirated stops pronounced by Indonesian, but In word-medial position, aspirated stops pronounced by Indonesian have longer VOT than aspiratied stops
Speaker: Achmad Rio Dessiar, M.A.
