The effect of allophonic variation and phonotactic restriction on categorization

This study presents a case from Korean which demonstrates that allophonic and phonotactic knowledge has an effect on listeners’ categorization choices. In Korean, voicing is generally treated as redundant on consonants since the only voiced consonants are nasals and liquids. However, voiced oral stops can occur intervocalically as allophones of the voiceless lenis counterpart. A further restriction comes from the velar nasal [ŋ], which is restricted to coda position. Two identification experiments, in which Korean listeners were presented with a 10-step continuum from voiced oral to nasal stop in three places of articulation and were asked to decide whether they heard a nasal or not, showed an earlier boundary shift in the nasal responses in the initial position than in the medial position. This finding suggests that Korean listeners do perceive the redundant/allophonic [voice] feature and are likely to interpret a stop containing this feature as nasal in initial position but as an allophonic oral variant...