음성음운형태론연구 19집 2호 Kim, Jungsun

Kim, Jungsun. 2013. Categorical perception of lexical pitch accent using contrastive f0 variations by (non-) native listeners. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 19.2. 233-253. 

The purpose of this paper was to determine the nature of categorical perception of lexical pitch accent; the case

language was North Kyungsang Korean. This paper follows the traditional paradigm

of categorical perception, but the relationship of the between-category and withincategory

results differs from that of previous studies. That is, for North Kyungsang

Korean, which features phonemically contrastive f0 variation, between-category

discrimination showed higher scores than within-category discrimination; however,

as a counterexample to traditional categorical perception, within-category

discrimination also showed higher scores for North Kyungsang listeners than for

South Cholla listeners, whose dialect features non-contrastive f0 variation. The

present paper is the first to represent the categorical perception of the Korean

prosodic system(s) and to show that stringent categorical perception accommodates

the processing of phonetic information for North Kyungsang listeners, whereas loose

categorical perception is adequate for the less categorical behavior of South Cholla

listeners. Overall, the results support the phonological status of lexical pitch accent

for speakers of the North Kyungsang dialect (but not for South Cholla). (Yeungnam

University)