This paper aims to study the phonological mechanism in acquisition of Korean phonemes for Chinese learners by conducting error analysis based on Element Theory proposed by Backley(2011). Specifically, this study reveals the phonological processing and the phonological motives in which typical error patterns are happening in learning Korean phonemes among Chinese learners and based on this, looks at Chinese learners’patterns in reinterpreting the Korean language phonological system.
To achieve this, Chapter 2 describes ET that this study is grounded in. What is worth noticing here is that Backley(2011)’s ET applied in this study, unlike traditional ET, prescribes the functions of head and non-head as elements not in terms of relational property in one segmental sound but in terms of three fundamental acoustical aspects perceiving and discriminating phonetic language. In other words, which element is head or non-head is not an issue in the dimension of applicable segmental sound but an inherent property of individual elements.
Next, Chapter 3 predicts the difficulty in learning Korean language phonological system among Chinese learners by contrasting the internal structure of segmental sounds in phonological system between Korean versus Chinese and sets the elements that function phonologically for Chinese learners’ errors in learning Korean phonemes. The key points here can be presented as follows. In perceiving vowel /ㅓ/, Chinese learners activate the rounded element |U|, phonological discrimination cue that Korean native speakers do not use and reinternalize the internal structure of vowel /ㅓ/ like ‘#[ㅓ] |U A|.’ This makes it difficult to differentiate from the acoustical pattern of Korean vowel ‘/ㅗ/ |U A| that contains the elements in such acoustical aspects, thus causing a lot of confusion errors like ‘#[ㅓ]?/ㅗ/.’
On one hand, it looks at the phonological processing and the phonological motives in which confusion errors in perceiving Korean initial consonant obstruent/affricative are happening among Chinese learners by considering two phonetic types present among Korean native speakers. It also classifies the articulation place of coronal consonants in the Chinese consonant phonetic system into dental, alveolar, retroflex, and alveopalatal based on the existing Chinese phonology according to Backley(2011:87)’s ET system. What is worth taking note here is that Chinese fricative ‘s /s/’ is dental consonant that entails the turbulent airflow passing through the upper teeth disorder and that Korean fricative ‘ㅅ /s/’ is alveolar consonant whose articulation place is further back than Chinese fricative ‘s /s/.’
Next, Chapter 4 reveals the phonological processing and the phonological motives in which Korean single vowel learning errors are happening among Chinese learners whose error occurrence frequency is relatively high. As a result, it is found that errors are frequently discovered in /ㅔ(ㅐ)/ and /ㅗ/, compound vowels in which two sounds are compounded in the process of Chinese learners’ acquiring Korean single vowel sound system, alternating vowel /ㅡ/ whose phonological characteristics are stronger than lexical ones, and vowel /ㅓ/ that activates the rounded element into phonological qualities unlike Korean native speakers. These are the errors that occur when Chinese adult learners with a brain already optimized to the internal structure of segmental phonemes in the vowel system of Chinese language, their mother tongue reinterpret the way how the elements contained in Korean vowels ‘/ㅔ(ㅐ)/, /ㅡ/, /ㅓ/, and /ㅗ/’ are compounded.
More specifically, in ‘/ㅔ(ㅐ)/ |I A|,’ replacement error occurs due to phonological action, which means that elements break down and are then replaced by ‘|I|’ or ‘|A|’ and mapped to the applicable acoustical pattern. In ‘/ㅡ/ | |,’ replacement error occurs due to phonological action, especially combination of elements, which means that it is replaced by ‘|A| and mapped to the applicable acoustical pattern. In ‘/ㅓ/ |A|,’ the internal structure of vowel /ㅓ/ is reinternalized like ‘#[ㅓ] |U A|’ by activating the rounded element |U|, discrimination cue that Korean native speakers do not use into phonological discrimination cue. This makes it difficult to differentiate from the acoustical pattern of Korean vowel ‘/ㅗ/ |U A|’ containing the elements in such acoustical aspects and causes confusion error like ‘#[ㅓ]?/ㅗ/.’ Next, in ‘/ㅗ/ |U A|,’ replacement error occurs as the elements break down and are then replaced by |U| and mapped into the applicable acoustical pattern. Specifically, more detailed discussion of why above phonological actions were caused and what kind of phonological processing was caused by such phonological action have been addressed in Chapter 4 and so omitted here. The analyzed result from Chapter 4 suggests that Chinese learners had difficulty in perceiving and assessing the way how they compound element |A| and element |U| shown in Korean vowel system in learning Korean vowels.
Chapter 5 analyzes the phonological processing and the phonological motives in which typical Korean initial consonant and final consonant learning errors are happening among Chinese learners whose error frequency is relatively high. As a result, it is found that Chinese learners tend to reinterpret the Korean consonant sound system largely in terms of laryngeal feature and the most frequent error happens when tense element |?| as head is replaced by closed element |?| as non-head. This can be explained by the phonological action called as role replacement of elements. Besides, the phonological actions include combination of elements that add breathy element |H|, break down of elements that drop the closed element |?| located in final consonant of syllable, replacement by element |I| representing alveolar consonant, and change of element as non-head |?| to element as head |?| due to the structural characteristics of Chinese syllables.
The findings from Chapter 5 above suggest that Chinese learners may have difficulty in perceiving and assessing tense features accurately in acquiring Korean consonants. But in Korean consonantal system, perceptual contribution rate, in laryngeal feature is the highest. Therefore, it is desirable to put weight on cognitive training about laryngeal feature rather than articulation place and articulating method in learning the Korean consonantal system.
This study is significant in that it revealed, based on ET, the phonological processing and the phonological motives in which typical error patterns are happening in acquiring Korean phonemes among Chinese learners in inherent and microscopic aspects and based on this, explored Chinese learners’ patterns in reinterpreting the Korean language phonological system and the causes. But this study has limitations in that it could not address education plans on how to utilize such abstract phonological mechanisms actually in educational fields. Accordingly the discussions in this study will have to be applied actually further in educational fields and further studies are also expected.