Tense/lax distinctions of English [s] in intervocalic position by Korean speakers: consonant/vowel ratio as a possible universal cue for consonant distinctions

Abstract

Several experiments have investigated voicing judgments in Germanic Languages when the duration of the first/stressed vowel and the following fricative or stop closure are varied while other cues for voicing remain constant and ambiguous (cf. Denes 1955, Port & Dalby 1982, etc.), showing that consonant/vowel ratio serves an important role for voicing distinctions. This paper investigates whether a temporal relation like consonant/vowel ratio can also be a possible cue for the distinctions of other features of consonants in a language that employs a totally different phonological system from Germanic languages. Several experiments examine how English words with intervocalic [s] are perceived by the speakers of Korean in which there are two alveolar sibilant fricatives, tense [S*] and non-tense [s]. Experiment 1 investigates how a nonce word [bisǝn] spoken by an English speaker is identified by Korean native speakers when the duration of the fricative and its preceding vowel varies in small steps. Experiment 2 investigates the effect of the vowel that follows the fricative on tensing judgment. The findings from these experiments show that a simple temporal cue like consonant/stressed vowel ratio also influences Koreans' tensing judgment, suggesting the possible nature of its universality in perception.