Perception of Stop-Nasal Sequences by Korean Learners of English: An Optimality Theoretic Approach

This paper explores how Korean learners of English perceive stop-nasal sequences and how L2 perception can be accounted for within the Optimality Theoretic framework. Voiced stop-nasal sequences in English are possible at the phonetic level, while voiceless stop-nasal ones are permissible with an inserted glottal stop at the phonetic level. Those sequences in Korean are possible at the phonemic level, but they are not permissible at the phonetic level because of a phonological constraint in Korean. This research was designed to provide answers to the following questions: (a) How do native Korean listeners perceive English stop-nasal sequences? (b) Is their perception affected by Korean phonology? (c) What factors play a role in their perception? The results show that Korean listeners` perception is different from English listeners` perception. Overall, Korean listeners show the perception of epenthetic vowels, which is affected primarily by the release and/or voicing of stops. Their perception is affected by the phonological patterning of Korean in which the release of stops and voiced stops occur only in the syllable-initial position. The variations could be accounted for by some constraints proposed by Davis and Shin (1999) and Dep-IO, and by adopting a model of floating constraints which yield the variable rankings apparent in L2 perception.