earticle

영어

This study investigated the production of /o/ and /u/ in South Kyungsang Korean. Specifically, this study examined whether the two vowels have similar acoustic characteristics, and how social and linguistic factors affect the degree and the direction of this vowel approximation. Twenty-four speakers repeated words with the vowels. The formant values of each production were measured and analyzed. The results revealed /o/s and /u/s were located quite close to each other in vowel spaces. As for the gender effect, the distances between the two vowels were shorter for females than males, and the females’ shorter distances were particularly due to similar F1 values. The analyses also reported that the distances were shorter when the vowels were in word-final positions than in word-medial and word-initial positions. In sum, this study suggests the approximation of /o/ and /u/ in South Kyungsang Korean, whose patterns were consistent with those in Seoul Korean.