Abstract:
This study investigates the role of phonology in spontaneous imitation in Seoul Korean speakers’
imitation of aspirated stops by comparing the primary and non-primary cues. Seoul Korean
aspirated stops are differentiated from stops of other phonation types by at least two distinct
acoustic properties, stop VOT and f0 of the post-stop vowel, with the latter being the primary
cue. In the imitation experiment, Seoul Korean speakers heard and shadowed model speech
that contained aspirated stops manipulated by either raising post-stop f0 or lengthening VOT.
Their realization of these properties in /tʰ/, /t/, and /t*/ productions were compared before,
during, and after exposure. Although both high f0 and long VOT induced imitative changes in
post-shadowing productions, the results revealed that exposure to an enhanced non-primary
cue (long VOT) also influences the production of the primary cue for aspirated stops (post-stop
f0). However, an enhanced primary cue (high f0) does not have similar effects on the non-primary
cue. These results provide evidence that spontaneous imitation is not strictly tied to individual
phonetic properties but it is rather phonological in that abstract categories are involved in the
process of imitation.