Sung, Jae-Hyun. 2019. Articulation and neutralization: An ultrasound study of inherent and derived palatals in Korean. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology, 25.2. 161-176. 

Korean exhibits a lexicalized palatalization process in which alveolar stops become palatalized before a high front vowel or a palatal glide across a morpheme boundary. This lexical palatalization creates a sound change in which the resulting palatals from palatalization are perceptually similar to underlying, inherent palatals, and raises the question whether palatals from two different sources are truly neutralizing in the production of Korean speakers. Using ultrasound imaging, one of the recent instrumental techniques in phonological research, this study investigated the articulation of the inherent and derived palatals [ʨ] and [ʨʰ]. Representative tongue contours from 11 speakers show that speakers produce distinct tongue gestures for inherent and derived palatals that are individualized to some extent, and two types of palatals are not neutralizing to at least some speakers. The results provide articulatory evidence of small but systematic contrast between inherent and derived palatals, and show that underlying laryngeal contrast among palatals manifests as gestural differences. (Yonsei University, Postdoctoral Researcher)

Key words: palatalization, articulation, neutralization, ultrasound imaging, Korean