Production and Perception of the Korean Accent: A Case Study of Korean and Chinese Speakers

The current study conducted experiments on the production and perception of accents by Korean (KG) and Chinese (CG) speakers to establish a theoretical ground for utilizing accents to teach Korean pronunciation. The production of accents was analyzed; KG and CG speakers read out two-syllable nonsense words in three different accents three separate times with (1) natural utterances, (2) the accent on the first syllable, and (3) the accent on the second syllable. First, the result of the analysis indicates that in the case of natural utterances, the pitches of KG and CG speakers were similar. As for the sound length, KG speakers pronounced the second syllable much longer than the first syllable, both of which were longer than when pronounced by CG speakers. Second, when the accent was on the first syllable, the pitch was high. In this case, experiments on perception revealed that the pitch of the first syllable was similar to the first tone(high level) of the Chinese language. As for the sound length, the first syllable (with the accent) was pronounced the longest by both KG and CG speakers. This phenomenon was more clearly observed in production of accents by women in both groups. Finally, when the accent was on the second syllable, the pitch showed a rise-fall pattern for both groups, in which the first syllable started at a low pitch and rose to the peak on the second syllable before falling. Experiments showed that accents were perceived in a manner similar to the fourth tone(falling pattern) of the Chinese language. The sound length was the longest on the second syllable (with the accent) for both KG and CG speakers. Interestingly, the pitch of the accented syllable, whether it was the first or second syllable, was higher for KG speakers than it was for CG speakers. Therefore, when teaching Chinese speakers the correct pronunciation of Korean as a foreign language, it must be kept in mind that the Chinese speaker's pitch may not be as high as that of the Korean speaker; furthermore, Chinese speakers may consider sound length more important than the pitch.