Tonogenesis in contemporary Korean with special reference to the onset-tone interaction and the loss of a consonant opposition

Recent studies show that, besides their effect on the fundamental frequency (f0) contour of the following vowel, Korean stops are undergoing a sound change in which a partial or completer voice onset time (VOT) merger is taking place between aspirated and lax stops. The purpose of this study is to see whether the sound change holds across the three major dialects of Korea (Seoul, Pusan, and Gwangju). The three acoustic parameters, VOT, f0, and H1-H2, were examined. The results show that the effects of onsets on f0 (i.e., onset-tone interaction) were robust across dialects whereas the merging of aspirated and lax stops was not. With respect to H1-H2, lax consonants showed higher breathiness than aspirated counterparts whereas tense consonants did not. With respect to VOT, most aspirated and lax stops were produced with long-lag voicing whereas tense stops were produced with short-lag voicing. However, interspeaker variations were noticeable even within each dialect, indicating that the sound change is still ongoing among Korean speakers. The phenomena correspond to typical tonogenesis properties, characterized by onset-tone interaction and merging of a consonantal opposition. The findings suggest that the sound change in contemporary Korean can be viewed as undergoing tonogenesis.