Focus-induced tonal distribution in Seoul Korean as an edge-prominence language

Abstract

This study investigates the phonetic realization of contrastive focus in short utterances in Seoul Korean, a so-called 'edge-prominence' language, which is assumed to express focus-induced prominence primarily through phrasing. The study explores how the distribution of phrase-level tones and their realization is influenced by focus in different positions of target words with different coda segmental makeups (/pam, pap/). Phrase-initially, focus displays a typical phrase-initial f0 rise for the L and H tones, with the L tone anchored to the focused monosyllabic word and the H tone to the following syllable, accompanied by a tonal expansion. This expansion results from an elevated f0 peak for the H while the L remains unchanged, showing tonal hyperarticulation only in the H tone. Phrase-medially, a similar f0 rise occurs under focus, but without robust tonal expansion. Crucially, the f0 rise is not accompanied by clear temporal or tonal evidence for the creation of a new phrase, demonstrating focus realization without phrasing. Phrase-finally, focus also shows no phrasing evidence. It results in an f0 fall, possibly due to tonal crowding of the L and H tones with the upcoming low boundary tone. However, this fall is distinct from a similar fall under no focus, suggesting a phonetic trace of the focal rise. Both initially and medially, the tonal realization of the f0 rise is affected by the segmental makeup (/pap/ vs. /pam/) only at the microprosodic level while maintaining the tonal targets, even in the face of physically adverse conditions for an f0 rise through the voiceless gap. The findings of the present study illuminate the intricate phonetic details of focus realization with a f0 rise in a language other than the well-studied West Germanic and Romance languages which employ word-level stress. The findings also shed new light on the relationship between focus and prosodic phrasing, implying that focus, previously argued to drive prosodic phrasing in Seoul Korean, is just one of several potentially competing structures that determine a sentence’s phrasing, thereby underscoring the multidimensional nature of prosodic structure.