한국인 영어 학습자의 기능어 for와 to의 음성실현에 대한 연구

This paper explores how English function words are phonetically realized in the production of Korean learners of English. In particular, it focuses on the principal phonetic characteristic of English function words, i.e., vowel reduction, and examines how Korean learners of English phonetically realize the function words for and to in relation to their position in a sentence (i.e., phrase-medial vs. phrase-final) and their accent status (i.e., accented vs. unaccented). A production experiment was conducted on 15 Korean university students. Each participant produced the two function words for and to depending on the following three conditions: i) unaccented phrase-medial, ii) unaccented phrase-final, and iii) accented phrase-medial. Five acoustic measurements (duration, F1, F2, intensity, and F0) were compared across the three conditions for each function word. Results revealed that there was no 3-way distinction for the function words for and to in the production of Korean learners of English and that no distinction was found in F2 for the function word for, in F0 for the function word to, and in F1 and intensity for both function words. Additionally, where there was a 2-way distinction (such as in duration, F2, and F0), the significant effect of accent was found only in duration for the function word for, but neither effect of position nor accent was observed for the function word to. These findings are discussed with their implications for English education.