The Perception of Canonical and Derived Stops

doi:10.18627/jslg.41.4.202602.505

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2026 Vol.41, Issue 4 Preview Page Next Page

Research Article

The Perception of Canonical and Derived Stops: Ahn, Miyeon^1*; ¹Hankyong National University

28 February 2026. pp. 505-515

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Abstract

Phoneme recognition is strongly influenced by semantic congruity among other linguistic factors, as listeners often perceive phonemes in ways that align with the overall meaning of a sentence. This study investigates how Korean-speaking listeners perceive canonical and phonologically derived stops in their native language with regard to contextual information: (i) lax-percept-inducing, (ii) tense-percept-inducing, and (iii) ambiguous contexts. A perception experiment was designed in which canonical and derived stops were extracted from natural speech and cross-spliced to create stimuli representing the three distinct conditions. The resulting stimuli were (i) congruent with, (ii) ambiguous in, or (iii) incongruent with the contextual cues when perceiving a canonical or a derived tense stop. The results showed that when instructed to identify each phoneme, listeners generally perceived phonemes in a manner consistent with the acoustic targets, were biased toward perceiving more canonical stops, and exhibited longer RT when perceiving derived stops. These findings suggest that listeners’ perception is sensitive to phonemic derivation as well as to contextual effects.

Keywords

phonemic derivation

perception

canonical

derived

contextual effects

References

Boersma, P. and Weenink, D. 2013. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer. [Computer program]. http://www.praat.org.
Cho, T. and Keating, P. A. 2001. Articulatory and Acoustic Studies on Domain-initial Strengthening in Korean. Journal of Phonetics 29.2, 155-190.10.1006/jpho.2001.0131
Cho, T., Jun, S.-A., and Ladefoged, P. 2002. Acoustic and Aerodynamic Correlates of Korean Stops and Fricatives. Journal of Phonetics 30.2, 193-228.10.1006/jpho.2001.0153
Cohen, C. 2014. Probabilistic Reduction and Probabilistic Enhancement. Morphology 24, 291-323.10.1007/s11525-014-9243-y
Connie, C. M., Titone, D., and Wang, J. 1993. Auditory Word Recognition: Extrinsic and Intrinsic Effects of Word Frequency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 19.1, 81-94. 10.1037/0278-7393.19.1.81
Cutler, A., Mehler, J., Norris, D., and Segui, J. 1987. Phoneme Identification and the Lexicon. Cognitive Psychology 19, 141-177.10.1016/0010-0285(87)90010-7
Gahl, S. 2008. Time and Thyme are Not Homophones: the Effect of Lemma Frequency on Word Durations in Spontaneous Speech. Language 84.3, 474-496.10.1353/lan.0.0035
Han, J.-I. 1996. The Phonetics and Phonology of “Tense” and “Plain” Consonants in Korean. Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University.
Han, M. S. and Weitzman, R. S. 1970. Acoustic Features of Korean /P, T, K/, /p, t, k/ and /p^h, t^h, k^h/. Phonetica 22, 112-128.10.1159/000259311
Hirschberg, J. 2016. Pragmatics & Prosody. In Yan Huang (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford University Press UK. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.013.28
Isenberg, D., Walker, E. C. T., and Ryder, J. M. 1980. A Top-down Effect in the Identification of Function Words. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 68, S48. Los Angeles, CA. 10.1121/1.2004759
Jun, J. 1999. Nasalization Not Triggered by Nasal. 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14). 527-530.
Kang, Y.-H. and Guion, S. G. 2008. Clear Speech Production of Korean Stops: Changing Phonetic Targets and Enhancement Strategies. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 124.6, 3909-3917.10.1121/1.2988292
Kemp, R. J. J. K., Ernestus, M., Schreuder, R., and Baayen, R. H. 2005. Prosodic Cues for Morphological Complexity: the Case of Dutch Plural Nouns. Memory & Cognition 33, 430-446. 10.3758/BF03193061
Kim, M. 2004. Correlation Between VOT and F0 in the Perception of Korean Stops and Affricates. Interspeech 2004, 1-6. (ICSLP, The 8^th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing). 10.21437/Interspeech.2004-57
Kim, M., Beddor, P. S., and Horrocks, J. 2004. The Contribution of Consonantal and Vocalic Information to the Perception of Korean Initial Stops. Journal of Phonetics 30.1, 77-100.10.1006/jpho.2001.0152
Ladd, D. R. 1996. Intonational Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lee, H., Polizer-Ahles, S., and Jongman, A. 2013. Speakers of Tonal and Non-tonal Korean Dialects Use Different Cue Weightings in the Perception of the Three-way Laryngeal Stop Ccontrast. Journal of Phonetics 41.2, 117-132. 10.1016/j.wocn.2012.12.002 25301975 PMC4188348
Lisker, L. and Abramson, A. S. 1967. Some Effects of Context on Voice Onset Time in English Stops. Language and Speech 10.1, 1-28.10.1177/002383096701000101
Miller, J. L., Green, K., and Schermer, T. M. 1984. A Distinction Between the Effects of Sentential Speaking Rate and Semantic Congruity on Word Identification. Perception and Psychophysics 36.4, 329-337.10.3758/BF03202785
Pitt, M. A. 1995. The Locus of the Lexical Shift in Phoneme Identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 21, 1037-1052.10.1037//0278-7393.21.4.1037
Rohde, H. and Ettlinger, M. 2012. Integration of Pragmatic and Phonetic Cues in Spoken Word Recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 38.4, 967-983.10.1037/a0026786 22250908 PMC4351257
Whalen, D. H., Ahbramson, A. S., Lisker, L., and Mody, M. 1993. F0 Gives Voicing Information Even with Unambiguous Voice Onset Time. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 93, 2152-2159.10.1121/1.406678

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 41
No :4
Pages :505-515
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.41.4.202602.505

[1] Boersma, P. and Weenink, D. 2013. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer. [Computer program]. http://www.praat.org.

[2] Cho, T. and Keating, P. A. 2001. Articulatory and Acoustic Studies on Domain-initial Strengthening in Korean. Journal of Phonetics 29.2, 155-190.10.1006/jpho.2001.0131

[3] Cho, T., Jun, S.-A., and Ladefoged, P. 2002. Acoustic and Aerodynamic Correlates of Korean Stops and Fricatives. Journal of Phonetics 30.2, 193-228.10.1006/jpho.2001.0153

[4] Cohen, C. 2014. Probabilistic Reduction and Probabilistic Enhancement. Morphology 24, 291-323.10.1007/s11525-014-9243-y

[5] Connie, C. M., Titone, D., and Wang, J. 1993. Auditory Word Recognition: Extrinsic and Intrinsic Effects of Word Frequency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 19.1, 81-94. 10.1037/0278-7393.19.1.81

[6] Cutler, A., Mehler, J., Norris, D., and Segui, J. 1987. Phoneme Identification and the Lexicon. Cognitive Psychology 19, 141-177.10.1016/0010-0285(87)90010-7

[7] Gahl, S. 2008. Time and Thyme are Not Homophones: the Effect of Lemma Frequency on Word Durations in Spontaneous Speech. Language 84.3, 474-496.10.1353/lan.0.0035

[8] Han, J.-I. 1996. The Phonetics and Phonology of “Tense” and “Plain” Consonants in Korean. Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University.

[9] Han, M. S. and Weitzman, R. S. 1970. Acoustic Features of Korean /P, T, K/, /p, t, k/ and /p^h, t^h, k^h/. Phonetica 22, 112-128.10.1159/000259311

[10] Hirschberg, J. 2016. Pragmatics & Prosody. In Yan Huang (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford University Press UK. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.013.28

[11] Isenberg, D., Walker, E. C. T., and Ryder, J. M. 1980. A Top-down Effect in the Identification of Function Words. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 68, S48. Los Angeles, CA. 10.1121/1.2004759

[12] Jun, J. 1999. Nasalization Not Triggered by Nasal. 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14). 527-530.

[13] Kang, Y.-H. and Guion, S. G. 2008. Clear Speech Production of Korean Stops: Changing Phonetic Targets and Enhancement Strategies. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 124.6, 3909-3917.10.1121/1.2988292

[14] Kemp, R. J. J. K., Ernestus, M., Schreuder, R., and Baayen, R. H. 2005. Prosodic Cues for Morphological Complexity: the Case of Dutch Plural Nouns. Memory & Cognition 33, 430-446. 10.3758/BF03193061

[15] Kim, M. 2004. Correlation Between VOT and F0 in the Perception of Korean Stops and Affricates. Interspeech 2004, 1-6. (ICSLP, The 8^th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing). 10.21437/Interspeech.2004-57

[16] Kim, M., Beddor, P. S., and Horrocks, J. 2004. The Contribution of Consonantal and Vocalic Information to the Perception of Korean Initial Stops. Journal of Phonetics 30.1, 77-100.10.1006/jpho.2001.0152

[17] Ladd, D. R. 1996. Intonational Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[18] Lee, H., Polizer-Ahles, S., and Jongman, A. 2013. Speakers of Tonal and Non-tonal Korean Dialects Use Different Cue Weightings in the Perception of the Three-way Laryngeal Stop Ccontrast. Journal of Phonetics 41.2, 117-132. 10.1016/j.wocn.2012.12.002 25301975 PMC4188348

[19] Lisker, L. and Abramson, A. S. 1967. Some Effects of Context on Voice Onset Time in English Stops. Language and Speech 10.1, 1-28.10.1177/002383096701000101

[20] Miller, J. L., Green, K., and Schermer, T. M. 1984. A Distinction Between the Effects of Sentential Speaking Rate and Semantic Congruity on Word Identification. Perception and Psychophysics 36.4, 329-337.10.3758/BF03202785

[21] Pitt, M. A. 1995. The Locus of the Lexical Shift in Phoneme Identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 21, 1037-1052.10.1037//0278-7393.21.4.1037

[22] Rohde, H. and Ettlinger, M. 2012. Integration of Pragmatic and Phonetic Cues in Spoken Word Recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 38.4, 967-983.10.1037/a0026786 22250908 PMC4351257

[23] Whalen, D. H., Ahbramson, A. S., Lisker, L., and Mody, M. 1993. F0 Gives Voicing Information Even with Unambiguous Voice Onset Time. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 93, 2152-2159.10.1121/1.406678

The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

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