중국인 학습자의 발음 교육을 위한 한국어 초성 자음 유형별 음절 음높이 분석

초록

Traditionally, Korean pronunciation education for Chinese learners has focused primarily on segmental features, such as consonants and vowels. However, increasing attention is being paid to suprasegmental features like pitch, and some recent studies suggest that pitch plays a significant role in distinguishing Korean consonants. This is particularly relevant for Chinese learners who struggle with differentiating between lenis, aspirated, and tense consonants in Korean. As a non-tonal language, Korean has typically been analyzed in terms of high and low pitch distinctions at the accentual phrase level rather than at the syllabic level. However, even within the same consonant category, subtle differences in pitch exist, which cannot be fully explained by a simple binary distinction between high and low tones. In response, this study employs Yuen Ren Chao’s five-level pitch notation system to numerically compare the pitch patterns of Korean onset consonants. Since this system is also capable of quantifying Chinese tonal patterns, it proves useful for cross-linguistic comparison of pitch realizations between Korean consonants and Chinese tones. The experiment was conducted with 15 native Korean-speaking female participants. The pitch realizations of each consonant type were analyzed in both first and second syllable positions. The results revealed clear pitch differences between tense and lax consonants. In the first syllable position, tense consonants were primarily realized with a “54" pitch pattern, resembling Mandarin Tone 1, while lax consonants were generally realized with a “32" pattern, which closely approximates a modified version of Mandarin Tone 3. In the second syllable position, the pitch contrast was less pronounced than in the first syllable. Tense consonants were mostly realized with a “43" pattern, which corresponds to a pitch level between Mandarin Tones 1 and 3. Notably, syllables beginning with /ㅎ/ exhibited significantly lower pitch than other tense consonants, showing characteristics similar to lax consonants. For the lax group, obstruents maintained a pitch pattern similar to that observed in the first syllable, while nasals and liquids showed similar pitch patterns to obstruents in the second syllable. In contrast, glides tended to exhibit slightly lower pitch values than other lax consonants.

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