PTLC2005 Joe Eun Kim Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping:1
Korean Accented English:
Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping
Joe Eun Kim, UCL
1 Introduction
If language learning begins after a certain age, it is unlikely that second language
learners will acquire a native-like pronunciation or perception of the target language.
This is true of most Korean native speakers of English; many speak heavily accented
English and have problems production and perception problems when communicating
with native English speakers.
There have been a number of studies pinpointing certain problematic aspects of
pronunciation and perception of English by Korean native speakers such as /r/-/l/
distinction (Flege, 1987). The aim of this project is to provide a broader account of
Korean accented English: how Korean native speakers are filtering and mapping English
onto Korean and how it may act as an independent interlanguage system. This paper is
an account of English consonant mapping by Korean native speakers.
2 Phoneme Mapping Prediction Criteria and Predictions
Much of the existing literature on the subject of second language acquisition has been
based on the investigation of the influence of L1, error analysis and the role of universal
grammar. However, to accurately create a perception and production mapping system,
all of these factors must be considered in an account of L2.
Phoneme mapping predictions were based on the following three criteria: Contrastive
Analysis hypothesis, Korean loanword phonology and degrees of phonetic similarity and
approximation in category formation and the equivalence of classification. CAH, while
widely acknowledged to be insufficient in accounting for all learner errors, is still a useful
predictor of a substantial portion of the phonological performance of L2 learners. CAH
and the emphasis on the importance of the role of L1 is also the basis of much of the
second language teaching theory still used today.
3 Experiment
3.1 Method
As a pilot study, 4 native speakers of Korean were asked to read a passage of English
and recorded. The speech compared to two speech models: General American English
and Korean. The readings were then transcribed with Korean phones with added
General American English phones where necessary. The text used in the experiment
was an extract from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The
General American English phonemic inventory and transcription was based on
Phonetics of American English by Charles Kenneth Thomas, published by Ronald Press
Company and the Korean phoneme inventory and transcription was based on Korean
Phonetics by Lee, H.Y published by Tae Hak Sa.
PTLC2005 Joe Eun Kim Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping:2
3.2 Results: General American English consonant mapping charts by category
Korean
English
p
→ b / V _ kk
eg) top /tɑp/ → /tʰob/ [tʰob]
→ pʰ / elsewhere
eg) pool /pul/ → /pʰul/
b
→b
eg) bread /bred/
bred → /bɯled/
t
→ d / V _ kk
eg) rat /ræt/ → /lɛd/ [kDc´]
→ tʰ / elsewhere
eg) till /tɪl/ → /tʰil/
d
→d
eg) drink /drɪ
drɪŋk/
ŋk/ → /dɯɾiŋkʰɯ.
k
→ g / V _ kk
eg) look /llʊk/
ʊk → /lug/
→ kʰ / elsewhere
eg) candy /kændi/
kændi → /kʰɛndi/
→ g / elsewhere
eg) iguana /ɪgw
ɪgwɑ
ɪgwɑnɘ/ → /iguana/
g
Table 1. Plosive mapping chart
ʧ
→ ʨʰ
eg) change /ʧeɪnʤ/→ /ʨʰeinʥi/
eg) latch /læʧ
læʧ/ → /lɛʨʰi/
cY
→ ʨ / kk _ non close V
→ ʥ / elsewhere
eg) jam /ʤæm/ → /ʨ⁼ɛm/
eg) juice /ʤus/ → /ʥusɯ/
age /eɪʤ/ → /eiʥɯ/
Table 2. Affricate mapping chart
PTLC2005 Joe Eun Kim Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping:3
e
→pʰ/ _ V
eg) fight /faɪ
faɪt/ → /pʰaɪd/
→ elsewhere / oç,
g'L( free variation
eg) fruits /fruː
fruːts/ → /huluʨ⁼ɯ/
v
→
θ
→ s⁼
eg) thought /θɔt/
ɔt → /s⁼ot/
ð
→d
eg) weather /weðər
weðər/ → /wedʌ/
s
→ rɯ / " _ C
eg) snake /sneɪk
sneɪk/ → /sɯneig/
→ r⁼ / elsewhere
eg) sound /saʊnd
saʊnd/
ʊnd/ →.s⁼aʊndɯ /
→ sɯ / _||
eg) zoo /zu/ → /ʥu/
→ ʥ / elsewhere
eg) AIDS /eɪdz/ →/eiʥɯ/
→ s / _ front high V
eg) sheep /Rho/ → /sip/ [ɕip]
→ sj [ɕj] / elsewhere
eg) short /ʃɔrt
ʃɔrt/
ʃɔrt → /ʃod/
→ʥ
pleasure /okdY?rr/ → /pʰɯleʥʌ/
z
R
ʒ
b
eg) van /v
væn/
æn/ → /bɛn/
Table 3. Fricative mapping chart
m
→m
eg) man /mæn/ → /mɛn/
n
→n
eg) name /neɪm
neɪm/ → /neim/
ŋ
→ŋ
eg) anger /æŋgər
æŋgər/ → .ɛŋgʌ/
Table 4. Nasal mapping chart
l
→l
eg) light /lait/ → /laid/
r
→l
eg) right /rait/ → /laid/
j, w
→ j, w
eg) yell /yel/
yel → /yel/
well /wel
wel/
wel → /wel/
Table 5. Approximant mapping chart
4 Discussion
Data suggests Korean speakers use secondary acoustic cues in the signal that have no
phonological meaning in English to map English allophones onto distinctive phonemes.
Korean has a two way voiceless alveolar fricative contrast while English only has one. In
this case of few-to-many phoneme mapping, CA would predict that English /s/ should be
mapped onto the nearest phonetic equivalent and the other Korean phone made
redundant. However, Koreans categorically map allophones of English /s/ onto Korean
PTLC2005 Joe Eun Kim Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping:4
/s/ when it occurs before a consonant such as in ‘snow’ /sɯno/ and /s⁼/ elsewhere, such
as in ‘so’ /s⁼o/. There is also evidence that some Koreans also do this with the three way
contrast in plosives.
The data also suggests that Koreans are sensitive to voice and prefer to keep voice
integrity over segemental integrity. In the mapping word final plosives, CA predicts that
they will be mapped onto the homorganic unreleased voiced plosive. However, perhaps
to preserve and emphasize voice, there is a great deal of free variation between the
homorganic unreleased voiced plosive and the homorganic voiced/voiceless plosive
followed by an epenthetic vowel /ɯ/; d ̚, tʰ
L (free variation) eg. ‘said’
/sed ̚
, sedɯ/ and ‘set’ /sed ̚
, setʰɯ/. An interesting point to note is that speed /spid/ is
mapped onto /sɯpʰidɯ/ despite the fact that there is a phone, Korean /p⁼/, which is
phonetically similar to English allophone [p⁼] in the inventory.
CA also predicts that the two English liquid phones will be mapped onto the single
corresponding Korean phone /l/. However, the Korean liquid has allophones [l] and [ɾ].
Analysis shows that intervocalically, mapping does have strategies to preserve feature
and phonetic similarity. Korean /l/ only occurs intervocalically when it is a geminate and
mapping reflects this, such as in ‘falling’ /folliŋ/. However, analysis of the recordings
show that word initially and after heavily aspirated plosives, the allophones occur much
more in free variation and may even disobey Korean phonotactics. This can be observed
as in the various instances of ‘planet’[pʰɯlenid ]̚-[pʰɯɾenid]. Another point of interest is
the treatment of rhoticity. Koreans will not usually preserve rhoticity in English rhotic
vowels. However, some interesting instances can be observed such as ‘there’ [del]
instead of [deʌ]. Whether this is systematic or is affected by the preceding vowel must
be studied further.
Finally, there are also a number of mapping treatments that can be traced back to
assimilation processes in Korean. These include “fortis” voice preference, liquid
substitution and compensatory lengthening. This can be observed in the following: ‘hate
them’ [heid̚
t⁼em] leading to English /ð/ being mapped onto Korean /t⁼/ However, a
large number of compulsory assimilation phenomena are overridden, especially nasal
substitution and alveolar assimilation.
5 Conclusions
Language learners find second language speech difficult to segment into words and
phonemes. Motor articulations of L2 can be difficult to reproduce and speakers may use
accented articulation. This can and often does lead to intelligibility issues for native
Korean speakers of English. A better knowledge of both production and perception
phoneme mapping systems can be significant in developing better ESL teaching
methods.
Transfer errors and subsequent phoneme mapping strategies cannot be completely
explained by CAH and the sole influence of L1. Properties of phonemes are often
captured in terms of their acoustic and articulatory characteristics. Phonological features
may be defined solely by their phonological function in the language. The “same”
phonetic categories can mean different things to subjects in production and perception of
different languages. These differences in phonetic parsing have implications for
phoneme mapping. Phonological function of segments in the two languages may also
affect the choice of phoneme in mapping. Phoneme mapping is categorical and
systematic. There are various voice and segmental issues that are resolved. Mapping
PTLC2005 Joe Eun Kim Cross Linguistic Phoneme Mapping:5
strategies can also override L1 and L2 phonology to create an interlanguage that cannot
be accounted for with solely L1 and L2. The next step of this project is to look at
phoneme mapping in perception and how perception and production mapping differ and
may influence each other.
6 References
Celce-Murcia, M, Brinton, D & Goodwin (1996). Teaching Pronunciation – A Reference
for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge University Press.
Flege, J. E. (1987). The production of “new” and “similar” phones in a foreign language:
evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. Journal of Phonetics, 15, 47-65.
Labov, W. The Organization of Dialect Diversity in North America
Lee, Ho-Young (1996) Korean Phonetics, Seoul : Thaehaksa
Piske, T. Mackay, I, & Flege, J. (2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an
L2: A review. Journal of Phonetics, 29, 191-215.
Thomas, Charles K (1958) An Introduction to the Phonetics of American English. New
York:The Ronald Press Company
Wells, J.C (1990). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow: Longman