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We aimed to develop a word-reading test for Korean-speaking adults using irregularly pronounced words that would be useful for estimation of premorbid intelligence. A linguist who specialized in Korean phonology selected 94 words that have irregular relationship between orthography and phonology. Sixty cognitively normal elderly (CN) and 31 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) were asked to read out loud the words and were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th edition, Korean version (K-WAIS-IV). Among the 94 words, 50 words that did not show a significant difference between the CN and the AD group were selected and constituted the KART. Using the 30 CN calculation group (CNc), a linear regression equation was obtained in which the observed full-scale IQ (FSIQ) was regressed on the reading errors of the KART, where education was included as an additional variable. When the regressed equation computed from the CNc was applied to 30 CN individuals of the validation group (CNv), the predicted FSIQ adequately fit the observed FSIQ (R2 = 0.63). In addition, independent sample t-test showed that the KART-predicted IQs were not significantly different between the CNv and AD groups, whereas the performance of the AD group was significantly worse in the observed IQs. In addition, an extended validation of the KART was performed with a separate sample consisted of 84 CN, 56 elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 43 AD patients who were administered comprehensive neuropsychological assessments in addition to the KART. When the equation obtained from the CNc was applied to the extended validation sample, the KART-predicted IQs of the AD, MCI and the CN groups did not significantly differ, whereas their current global cognition scores significantly differed between the groups. In conclusion, the results support the validity of KART-predicted IQ as an index of premorbid IQ in individuals with AD.

This paper reports on a nonce word study of imperfect overlapping in Korean blends where speakers rated blends with various pairs of segments in a possible overlapping position (e.g. kata+pami = katami). The results show that Korean speakers prefer blends with segments with a laryngeal feature difference (/p/ vs. /ph/) as overlapping segments in comparison to pairs with a place (/p/ and /k/) or manner (/p/ and /m/) feature differences. Moreover, Korean speakers preferred blends that retained certain segments. When fortis/aspirated stops are in competition with lenis stops (e.g. katha+tami), the resultant blends with fortis/aspirated stops are rated higher (kathami is rated higher than katami). This paper argues that these preferences arise from the faithfulness rankings required in the phonology of Korean; they do not require a construction-specific grammar just for blends.

No abstract

In American English, phonologically voiced consonants are often phonetically voiceless in utterance-initial position (Lisker & Abramson, 1964) § Utterance-initial position: 'active voicing' gestures by speakers are needed, the context which is possible to test whether or not a language has stops with pre-voicing (Beckman et al. 2013) § Other than Westbury (1983), there is little articulatory evidence regarding utterance-initial voicing in American English § Westbury (1983): the tongue root is advanced in voiced consonants in utterance-initial positions, but he did not distinguish between phonated and unphonated voiced stops. § One adjustment for initiating or maintaining phonation during the closure: enlarging the supraglottal cavity volume primarily via tongue root advancement. (Westbury 1983, Narayan et al. 1995, Proctor et al. 2009) § The same mechanism that is responsible for phonation during closure also facilitates short positive voice onset time (Cho & Ladefoged, 1999) Research Questions: • What is the phonetic target of utterance-initial voiced stops in English: phonation during closure or short positive VOT? à This study focuses on how the tongue root is employed to reach that phonetic target, comparing phonated voiced stops, unphonated voiced stops, and voiceless stops in utterance-initial position. Hypothesis: • If phonated voiced stops and unphonated stops show o the same tongue root position: speakers have short positive VOT as the phonetic target for both phonated and unphonated stops, but phonation can occur as a by-product of achieving that goal o the different tongue root position: speakers have phonation during closure as the phonetic target for phonated voiced stops

Initiating or maintaining phonation during stop closure involves several adjustments, including tongue root advancement to enlarge oral cavity volume (Westbury 1983). Ultrasound imaging shows that in English, the tongue is more advanced for phonologically voiced stops, whether phonated or unphonated (Ahn 2015). The current study uses ultrasound to examine tongue positioning during Hindi stops. Hindi has a unique four-way laryngeal contrast: voiced, murmured, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless aspirated. Eight native Hindi speakers recorded phrase-initial stops at three places of articulation (labial, dental, velar) followed by the low vowel /a/. Results show a clear distinction in tongue position between voiced and voiceless unaspirated/aspirated stops. The tongue root is advanced for voiced stops in comparison to voiceless stops. However, there is no difference in tongue root position between voiceless unaspirated and aspirated stops. Murmured stops showed variation among speakers in comparison to other stops, while the majority of speakers show more advanced tongue root compared to voiceless stops. The results suggest that tongue root advancement facilitates phonation in Hindi. Thus, in Hindi, tongue root position corresponds to a phonological distinction in phonation most notably between voiced unaspirated stops and voiceless stops, whereas in English, tongue root position reflects a more abstract phonological distinction in voicing that does not correspond to phonation.

Tongue root advancement facilitates voicing during stop closure by enlarging the supralaryngeal cavity volume (Westbury, 1983). In a recent ultrasound study, Ahn (2018) reports that tongue is indeed more advanced during voiced than voiceless stops both in English and Brazilian Portuguese, suggesting that the articulatory adjustment aligns more with the abstract laryngeal distinctions than their acoustic implementation—the "voiced” stops are typically not phonated in English but in Brazilian Portuguese. This study, using ultrasound, compares tongue positioning during Seoul Korean (SK) stops of three laryngeal categories: lenis, fortis, and aspirated. All three categories are voiceless phrase-initially, with the lenis being voiced intervocalically (Jun, 1993). This study asks whether (1) SK lenis, fortis, and aspirated stops have different tongue configurations when none are phonated and (2) the intervocalic voicing of lenis stops leads to tongue root advancement. Nine native SK speakers recorded phrase-initial and intervocalic stops. Results: lenis, fortis, and aspirated stops did not show different tongue position in phrase-initial positions. In intervocalic positions, lenis stops, acoustically voiced during closure, did not show more tongue root advancement than other types of stops. These results suggest that SK speakers use tongue positioning neither for laryngeal contrast nor as an adjustment for allophonic voicing of intervocalic lenis stops.

Previous research on utterance-initial voiced stops in American English (AE) has shown that speakers enlarge the vocal cavity via tongue root advancement whether or not the stop is phonated when compared to voiceless stops (Ahn 2015). The current ultrasound study expands this line of research to examine two further variables: (a) utterance-initial fricatives/affricates and (b) effect of frontness of the following vowel. Participants included both monolingual (n = 4) and simultaneous bilingual (n = 7) AE speakers. Phrase-initial stops (/p,b,t,d,k,g/), fricatives (/f,v,s,z/), and affricates (/tʃ,ʤ/) were followed by /e/ or /u/. Most productions confirmed that both phonated and unphonated voiced stops/affricates had more tongue root advancement than voiceless ones, but a small proportion showed no difference between phonated, unphonated, and voiceless stops/affricates. Fricative productions were divided between no tongue root difference due to either voicing or phonation, and greater advancement for voiced fricatives regardless of phonation. Tongue root advancement may be less prevalent for fricatives because weakening of the frication can also facilitate the conditions for phonation. A prediction that tongue root advancement for voicing before /e/ might be limited by the positioning requirements of the front vowel was weakly supported, especially for fricatives. The potential effects of bilingual speakers are also addressed.