The prosodic structure and pitch accent of Northern Kyungsang Korean

Abstract

This study investigates the underlying tonal pattern of pitch accent, tone interaction, focus effects, and the prosodic structure of Northern Kyungsang Korean (NKK) by examining tone-syllable alignment and the realization of pitch accent in different tonal/prosodic contexts. Based on quantitative data, we propose that the underlying tone of pitch accent is H*+L and that the left edge of a prosodic word is marked by a low boundary tone (%L). Our observation, with respect to the tone interaction of different lexical classes, shows evidence in favor of the downstep/ upstep account [Kenstowicz & Sohn (1997) Focus and phrasing in Northern Kyungsang Korean. In P.-M. Bertinetto (Ed.), Certamen Phonologicum III, (pp. 137-156). Torino: Rosenberg and Sellier. (Also in MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, 30, 25-47, 1997)], as opposed to the H-tone deletion account (e.g., G. Kim (1988) The Pitch-accent System of the Taegu Dialect of Korean with Emphasis on Tone Sandhi at the Phrasal Level, PhD dissertation, University of Hawaii.). The data also indicate that surface representations of NKK are sparsely specified for tone. Most importantly, we found that the prosodic cue of focus differs depending on the location of the pitch accent within a prosodic word. We conclude that the prosodic goal of focus in NKK is in the pitch range expansion of the focused phrase, which is implemented by expanding the pitch range of the most prominent word within the phrase, regardless of whether it is the focused word or not.

Does prosodic constituency signal relative predictability? A Smooth Signal Redundancy hypothesis

“…Chen's (2006) study of the durational correlates of focus in Mandarin showed that focus domains are marked by longer durations at their edges than their non-focused counterparts. And focusmarking in Japanese and Korean also appears to involve optional boundary marking: the initial boundaries of focused constituents can block lexical pitch accent downstep in the same way that intonational phrase-boundaries do (for Japanese: Pierrehumbert and Beckman 1988;Venditti, Maekawa and Beckman 2008; but see Kubozono 2006;for Korean: Jun 1993;Jun et al 2006;Kenstowicz andSohn 1997, Kim 1997). Japanese speakers can also insert a prosodic boundary tone at the end of the focused constituent to set it of from a following constituent; this type of boundary insertion is often found when the focused word is utterance-initial (Venditti et al 2008).…”

The imitation patterns of adults and children on f0 intervals in North Kyungsang Korean

“…North Kyungsang Korean is spoken using a lexical pitch accent in the southeast area of Korea. Previous studies on North Kyungsang Korean have traditionally demonstrated that high and low tones are associated with syllables, reflecting a phonologically approached theory (Chung, 1991;Jun et al, 2006;Kenstowicz & Sohn, 1997;Kim, 1976;Kim, 1988;Kim, 1997). Recently, Kim (2012Kim ( , 2015Kim ( , 2018 has researched the lexical pitch accent in North Kyungsang Korean using an imitation task with the data of children and adults.…”

“…This study investigates the imitation patterns of adults and children speaking North Kyungsang Korean by measuring log-produced f0 (fundamental frequency) intervals. Previous studies have suggested that North Kyungsang Korean has a lexical pitch accent (Chung, 1991;Jun et al, 2006;Kenstowicz & Sohn, 1997;Kim, 1976;Kim, 1988;Kim, 1997). For example, [kaci] is produced as HL 'kind', LH 'eggplant', and HH 'branch'.…”

The effect of word length on f0 intervals: Evidence from North Kyungsang children

“…The previous studies on North Kyungsang Korean (Kim, 1976;Kim, 1988;Chung, 1991;Kim, 1997;Kenstowicz & Sohn, 1997;Jun et al, 2006) have suggested that the pitch accent of this dialect in Korean is lexically determined (e.g., [kaci]: HL 'kind,' LH 'eggplant,' HH 'branch'). The current paper deals with how the length in syllables (for two-and three-syllable words) is related to fundamental frequency (f0) intervals.…”

“…The lexical pitch accent in North Kyungsang Korean has traditionally been examined from the point of view of the association between tone and syllable relative to phonological interpretation (Kim, 1976;Kim, 1988;Chung, 1991;Kim, 1997;Kenstowicz & Sohn, 1997;Jun et al, 2006). The acquisition of lexical pitch accent in Korean has not received any attention from researchers.…”