An acoustic comparison of phonetic realization between South Kyungsang Korean-speaking children and adults’ English loanword production

The present study aimed to examine how a recently observed change in the lexical pitch accent of South Kyungsang Korean is reflected in the pitch realization of English loanwords by observing young adults’ speech production. The phonetic properties of the lexical pitch accent are changing in that the peak is delayed and the acoustic distinction is reduced across accent contrast. Comparing the loanword pitch pattern between children and young adults, this study also explored age-related variation with regard to child speakers with shorter exposure to Kyungsang Korean than young adults. The acoustic analyses indicate that for young adults the loanword pitch pattern is less likely to be affected by the ongoing pitch change, but is rather sensitive to syllable weight. On the other hand, the child speakers constantly showed the peak on the final syllable regardless of syllable weight. The findings suggest different time schedules for the accent change between loanwords and native words as well as an age effect on the pitch realization of English loanwords in South Kyungsang Korean.