Tongue root configuration during Seoul Korean stops: An ultrasound study

Abstract

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.