Production of the Word-Initial Stop Variation by Kyungsang Koreans in Seoul and Seoul Koreans in Kyungsang Province

Production of the Word-Initial Stop Variation by Kyungsang Koreans in Seoul and Seoul Koreans in Kyungsang Province

This study examines the word-initial stop variation in the speech of speakers who were born in North Kyungsang province and moved to Seoul after the age of 20 and that of speakers who were born in Seoul and moved to North Kyungsang province after the age of 20. Specifically, this study investigates whether Seoul Koreans moving to North Kyungsang have acquired the NKK-like word-initial tensification in any of the two contexts - wordlist and reading passage. Moreover, this study explores whether North Kyungsang Korean moving to Seoul have lost the NKK-like word-initial tensification in the two contexts. Finally, this study examines whether social factors, including gender, length of stay in a new region, attitude toward the first and second dialects, and awareness of the word-initial tensification affect the acquisition or loss of the second dialect feature. A major finding is that both mobile groups do not show the NKK-like word-initial tensification in wordlist and reading passage speech. With respect to the effect of the social factors, male Kyungsang Koreans in Seoul produce tensified stops more than female counterparts. Meanwhile, none of the social factors are significant in the speech of Seoul Koreans in North Kyungsang.