The Use of Phonetic Evidence for the Phonological Controversies: A Case of Leftward Tone Spreading

Abstract

This paper seeks a phonetic assessment of a tonal alternation in Hamkyeong Korean, a yet little studied pitch accent language. The tonal alternation has been analyzed as a leftward tone spreading in previous studies. Central to the analysis in the present study is the claim that tone alternation in Hamkyeong Korean can be better accounted for in terms of phonetic implementation of high tones rather than phonological analysis of leftward tone spreading. In the experiment, Hamkyeong Korean speakers' speech data were pitch tracked and measurement was conducted on fundamental frequency (FO henceforth) values of pitch peak, pitch trough and intermediate points. Statistical results show that FO values of the intermediate points result from a linear transition function of FO values of peak and trough and the temporal distance from the peak. This supports the claim that there is no tone spreading in Hamkyeong Korean and the phenomenon previously considered as a phonological process is a result of phonetic implementation.