earticle

영어

It is well known that native speakers of English systematically reduce consonant clusters appearing in word-final position (e.g., next class → [nɛks klæs], Yavaş, 2006). A number of previous studies based on Korean speakers’ English word reading task have reported that to some extent Korean learners of English are aware of the linguistic variables that affect native speakers’ reduction patterns of word-final consonant clusters (e.g., Lee & Cho, 2005). The goal of the current study is to examine to what extent the previously reported patterns of consonant cluster reduction by Korean learners of English in their reading task are found when they interact with a native speaker of English in a spontaneous communicative setting. Using a spot-the-difference method (Kim et al., 2011), the present study shows that Korean speakers’ patterns of English consonant cluster reduction revealed in their reading task are not always consistent with the patterns gathered in their spontaneous English speech. In particular, unlike the results from previous studies, longer consonant clusters (i.e., clusters made up of three consonants) did not show a higher rate of reduction than shorter consonant clusters (i.e., clusters made up of two consonants). Discussions are provided regarding the factors that are potentially responsible for this discrepancy. More generally, discussions are provided regarding the effect of spontaneous speech on the word-final consonant cluster reduction by Korean learners of English.