Perception of synthesized /na/by Korean listeners

Abstract

Previous research reported that Korean nasal consonants can be denasalized in word-initial position. This study examined the perception of word-initial nasal onset /n/for native Korean listeners using synthesized /Ca/stimuli with a Klatt synthesizer. We tested the effects of consonant duration, consonant nasality, and vowel nasalization on perception. In a rating experiment, listeners evaluated the goodness of the stimuli as /na/on a seven-point scale. The participants generally gave favorable ratings to the stimuli with nasalized vowels. Two-thirds of the participants responded that the stimuli with no nasality are good exemplars of /na/, whereas the other listeners did not. In a yes-no experiment, participants judged if the stimuli were /na/or not. They responded in similar ways they did in the rating experiment. Many listeners gave positive responses as /na/even to the stimuli with 0 voice onset time, yet the stimuli with longer prevoicing or nasal murmur were more likely to be perceived as /na/. Vowel nasality affected the perception of /na/, while some listeners preferred oral vowels over the nasalized vowels when they evaluated the /na/-likeness.