Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T12:49:33.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variation and change in the nominal pitch-accent system of South Kyungsang Korean*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2016

Hyunjung Lee ,
Allard Jongman  and
Jie Zhang
Hyunjung Lee*
Affiliation:
Kyungnam University and University of Kansas
Allard Jongman*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Jie Zhang*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
*
E-mail: hyunjunglee123@gmail.com, jongman@ku.edu, zhang@ku.edu.
E-mail: hyunjunglee123@gmail.com, jongman@ku.edu, zhang@ku.edu.
E-mail: hyunjunglee123@gmail.com, jongman@ku.edu, zhang@ku.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper considers whether the phonology of the lexical pitch accent of Kyungsang Korean is being maintained by younger innovative speakers. We examine the pitch-accent patterns of nouns with various suffixes by comparing the speech of innovative Kyungsang speakers to that of older conservative speakers. It will be shown that while innovative speakers maintain the underlying distinction in the lexical pitch accent found with conservative speakers, the acoustic difference across the contrastive accent classes is substantially weaker in the speech of innovative speakers, for both noun stems and suffixes. Observation of individual differences in the phonetic realisation of the pitch accent and comparison with tonal patterns of Seoul Korean provide an insight into this sound change, offering evidence for how and why the acoustic distinction has weakened. This study thus documents a process of diachronic change in the prosody of Kyungsang Korean.

Type
Articles
Information
Phonology , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , August 2016 , pp. 325 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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.)

Footnotes

*

The Phonology editors and three anonymous reviewers have provided us with many insightful and valuable comments and critiques that helped us improve the quality of this work. We thank Byunggon Yang and Soonbok Kwon at Pusan National University, Kyungae Kim, Yeonmi Park and Hoyeol Ryu at Hankyong National University and the staff at Youngdo Senior Welfare Centre for their help in recruiting participants in Korea. Portions of this research were conducted as part of the first author's dissertation at the University of Kansas.

The ANOVA results and data plots in §4.1 and the individual variation figures in §4.2.2 are available as online supplementary materials at http://www.journals.cambridge.org/issue_Phonology/Vol33No02.

References

REFERENCES

Armstrong, Timothy Currie (2012). Establishing new norms of language use: the circulation of linguistic ideology in three new Irish-language communities. Language Policy 11. 145–168.Google Scholar
Auer, Peter, Hinskens, Frans & Kerswill, Paul (2005). Dialect change: convergence and divergence in European languages. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, Barbaranne J. (1981). Frequency variability in the aged voice. Journal of Gerontology 36. 722–726.Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David (2010). Praat: doing phonetics by computer (version 5.1.29). http://www.praat.org.Google Scholar
Chang, Seung-Eun (2007). The phonetics and phonology of South Kyungsang Korean tones. PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Cho, Hyesun (2011). The timing of phrase-initial tones in Seoul Korean: a weighted-constraint model. Phonology 28. 293–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Bronwen G. & Iverson, Paul (2007). Plasticity in vowel perception and production: a study of accent change in young adults. JASA 121. 3814–3826.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heffernan, Kevin, Borden, Alison J., Erath, Alexandra C. & Yang, Julie-Lynn (2010). Preserving Canada's ‘honour’: ideology and diachronic change in Canadian spelling variants. Written Language and Literacy 13. 1–23.Google Scholar
Jun, Sun-Ah (1993). The phonetics and phonology of Korean prosody. PhD dissertation, Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Jun, Sun-Ah (1998). The Accentual Phrase in the Korean prosodic hierarchy. Phonology 15. 189–226.Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael, Cho, Hyesun & Kim, Jieun (2008). A note on contrasts, mergers and acquisitions in Kyungsang accent. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 28. 107–122.Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael & Park, Chiyoun (2006). Laryngeal features and tone in Kyungsang Korean: a phonetic study. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 12. 247–264.Google Scholar
Kim, Jieun & Schuh, Russell G. (2006). Tone and accent in South Kyengsang Korean nouns. Ms, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Labov, William (1974). Linguistic change as a form of communication. In Silverstein, Albert (ed.) Human communication: theoretical explorations. Hillsdale: Erlbaum. 221–256.Google Scholar
Lee, Dongmyung & Davis, Stuart (2009). On the pitch-accent system of South Kyungsang Korean: a phonological perspective. Language Research 45. 3–22.Google Scholar
Lee, Hye-Sook (2008). Pitch accent and its interaction with intonation: experimental studies of North Kyeongsang Korean. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Lee, Hyunjung & Jongman, Allard (2015). Acoustic evidence for diachronic sound change in Korean prosody: a comparative study of the Seoul and South Kyungsang dialects. JPh 50. 15–33.Google Scholar
Lee, Hyunjung & Zhang, Jie (2014). The nominal pitch accent system of South Kyungsang Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 23. 71–111.Google Scholar
Lee, Iksop & Ramsey, S. Robert (2000). The Korean language. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-Moon & Ramsey, S. Robert (2011). A history of the Korean language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, Samuel E. (1992). A reference grammar of Korean: a complete guide to the grammar and history of the Korean language. Singapore: Tuttle.Google Scholar
Munro, Murray J., Derwing, Tracey M. & Flege, James E. (1999). Canadians in Alabama: a perceptual study of dialect acquisition in adults. JPh 27. 385–403.Google Scholar
Prince, Alan & Smolensky, Paul (1993). Optimality Theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. Ms, Rutgers University & University of Colorado, Boulder. Published 2004, Malden, Mass. & Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2011). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at http://www.r-project.org.Google Scholar
Ramsey, S. Robert (1975). Accent and morphology in Korean dialects: a descriptive and historical study. PhD dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Schuh, Russell G. & Kim, Jieun (2007). South Kyengsang tones and pitch accent, Ms, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Silva, David (2011). Out of one, many: the emergence of world Korean(s). In Yoon, James Hye Suk, Kang, Yongsoon, Han, Jae-Young & Shi, Chung-Kon (eds.) Inquiries into Korean linguistics IV. Seoul: Taehaksa. 9–37.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter (1986). Dialects in contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Utsugi, Akira (2009). Merger-in-progress of tonal classes in Masan/Changwon Korean. Language Research 45. 23–42.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Lee supplementary material

Lee supplementary material 1

Download Lee supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.3 MB