The function of creaky voice in South Korean: A perception study

This study examines whether creaky voice serves as a perceptual cue for the fortis-lenis word-initial stop distinction in Standard Seoul Korean. Twenty-nine native speakers com- pleted an online forced-choice ABX task, where they deter- mined whether a manipulated, artificially creaky lenis token (Sound X) with ambiguous values of VOT and F0 resembled more closely a natural fortis (Sound A) or a natural lenis to- ken (Sound B). Results showed considerable inter-speaker vari- ation: some rarely categorized creaky lenis tokens as fortis, while others did so up to 15% of the time. Statistical analysis showed that presence of creak in Sound X did not change the perceptual classification significantly, suggesting creak is not a primary cue alongside VOT and F0. Word-specific effects also emerged, highlighting the complexity of perceptual cues in Ko- rean stop contrasts.