Rhythm in Korean verse, sico

Although rhythm in language and speech is elusive, the prosodic pattern in verse and the way language is aligned to music can reveal cross-linguistic differences in rhythm. This paper presents an analysis of the temporal patterning in the Korean verse sico /sitɕo/ and its sung performance. The conclusion is that the sico rhythm does not exclusively suggest that Korean is syllable-based as claimed in psycholinguistic literature. Although the syllable can be a useful unit for segmenting speech, the primary building block for temporal organisation of sico is the word-sized prosodic unit resembling the Accentual Phrase

The Perception of Korean Boundary Tones by First and Second Language Speakers

This paper reports an experiment which investigated the perception of prosody in Korean or non-word utterances by native Korean speakers and English learners of Korean. Listeners rated the degrees of positivity and excitement of resynthesized utterances with different pitch ranges and durations. The results revealed no significant differences between the two groups of listeners. The variations in pitch range and duration had systematic effects on the ratings. However, the interactions between various factors suggest that the mapping between prosodic shapes and their paralinguistic meaning is not straightforward

Segmentation of the Accentual Phrase in Seoul Korean

Pairs of phonemically identical utterances with different location of an Accentual Phrase boundary were presented to listeners. When duration and/or F0 were swapped between the utterances within a pair, only F0 change elicited changes in listeners’ responses. This effect was found regardless of the distribution of strong consonants which raise Accentual Phrase initial F0. On the other hand, listeners seemed to be sensitive to a few cases with segmental-prosodic mismatches

Effects of age, sex, context, and lexicality on hyperarticulation of Korean fricatives

Seoul Korean is known for a rare three-way laryngeal contrast among lenis, fortis, and aspirated voiceless stops, which has recently undergone a change in phonetic implementation: whereas older speakers rely more on voice onset time (VOT) to distinguish lenis and aspirated stops, younger speakers rely more on onset fundamental frequency (f 0) in the following vowel. This production difference is reflected in disparate strategies for enhancing the contrast in clear speech, supporting the view that younger and older speakers represent the three laryngeal categories differently in terms of VOT and f 0 targets (Kang & Guion, 2008). In the current study, we used the clear speech paradigm to test for change in the representation of the two-way contrast between fortis (/s*/) and non-fortis (/s/) fricatives. Native Seoul Korean speakers (n = 32), representing two generations and both sexes, were recorded producing the coronal stops and fricatives in different vowel contexts, item types (real vs. nonce words), and speech registers (plain citation vs. clear). We report acoustic data on how the above factors influence production of the fricative contrast and discuss implications for the phonological categorization of non-fortis /s/ as lenis, aspirated, or a hybrid lenis-aspirated category.https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1_NoAiLQlnkZ2RtdEtuYTlaMkkOthe

Prosodic Marking of Narrow Focus in Seoul Korean

This paper explores prosodic marking of narrow (corrective) focus in Seoul Korean. Korean lacks lexical stress and it has a phonologized association between the Accentual Phrase (AP) initial segment and intonation. In the experiment, four speakers read sentences including a two-item list which were designed to elicit either an L or H AP-initial tone. The durational variations, the pitch events at prosodic boundaries, and F$_{0}$span in 32 sentences read neutrally and 64 sentences read with one of the items under focus were analysed. The results show that the focused constituent consistently initiates a new prosodic phrase. I n comparison to the neutrally spoken or defocused counterpart, the focused constituent was more likely to be realised as an Intonational Phrase (IP) in some contexts . Bitonal IP boundary tones were more likely to occur under focus than monotonal tones. In addition, in focused constituents, durational expansion particularly at the phrase-edges, expansion in F$_{0}$span, and raising of the phrase-initial pitch were observed. On the other hand, defocused constituents were not phonetically reduced compared to the neutral counterparts. The results imply that the phonetic cues spreading over the focused constituent complement the exaggerated prosodic boundaries.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Academy of Korean Studies for the present work (grant number AKS-2012-R56)

The efficacy of preoperative PET/CT for prediction of curability in surgery for locally advanced gastric carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The benefits of preoperative ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT for gastric cancer remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of preoperative ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT on the surgical strategy for locally advanced gastric cancer retrospectively.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From January 2007 to November 2008, ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT was performed in 142 patients who had been diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer by computed tomography or gastrofiberscope findings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Detection rates were 88.7% (126/142) for primary tumors and 24.6% (35/142) for local lymph nodes (LN). Nine patients with metastatic lesions underwent induction chemotherapy without operation. Of 133 patients subjected to operation, positive FDG uptake in primary tumors (<it>p </it>= 0.047) and local lymph nodes (<it>p </it>< 0.001) was related to non-curable operations. The mean standard uptake value (SUV) of primary tumors of patients who underwent non-curable operations was significantly higher than that of patients with curable operations (<it>p </it>= 0.001). When the SUV was greater than 5 and FDG uptake of LN was positive, non-curable operations were predicted with a sensitivity of 35.2%, a specificity of 91.0% and an accuracy of 76.7%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>High SUV of the primary tumor and positive FDG uptake in local lymph nodes at PET/CT could predict non-curative resection in locally advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, information from preoperative PET/CT can help physician decisions regarding other modalities without laparotomy.</p

Characterization and source of fluorescent dissolved organic matter in the Western Arctic Ocean: new insights from the 2019 summer study

Increase in river discharge and seasonal primary production and decline in sea ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean in summer can significantly affect the distribution and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM). This study aimed to enhance the current available knowledge about the impacts of environmental changes on the characteristics of DOM in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Seawater samples were collected from the western Arctic Ocean during the summer of 2019 and analyzed for fluorescent DOM (FDOM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) content in conjunction with biophysical properties. We identified two humic-like (C1 and C2) and one protein-like (C3) components using fluorescence excitation-emission matrix coupled with parallel factor (EEM–PARAFAC) analysis. Remarkably high intensities of humic-like FDOM were found in the upper halocline layer (32 &lt; salinity &lt; 33.5 psu, at depths between 50–200 m) with high inorganic nutrient concentrations and low N* values, indicating that the humic-like FDOM was supplied from the shelf sediment. Furthermore, shoaling of the upper halocline layer brought high levels of humic-like FDOM to the euphotic zone, resulting in an increased probability of photodegradation of humic-like FDOM due to exposure to solar radiation in the surface layer. Tryptophan-like FDOM was positively correlated with river water fraction (friver) and riverine DOC but not with chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and heterotrophic bacterial abundance, indicating river discharge as a potential additional source of tryptophan-like FDOM. The correlation coefficients between tryptophan-like FDOM and river water parameters (friver and riverine DOC) differed across the Chukchi Sea, Chukchi Borderland, and East Siberian Sea, implying that the influence of river discharge on tryptophan-like FDOM is region-dependent. An increase in river discharge in future might lead to a greater supply of tryptophan-like FDOM, impacting the dynamics of DOM cycling in the western Arctic Ocean

Effects of rhythm and phrase-final lengthening on word-spotting in Korean

A word-spotting experiment was conducted to investigate whether rhythmic consistency and phrase-final lengthening facilitate performance in Korean. Listeners had to spot disyllabic and trisyllabic words in nonsense strings organized in phrases with either the same or variable syllable count; phrase-final lengthening was absent, or occurring either in all phrases or only in the phrase immediately preceding the target. The results show that, for disyllabic targets, inconsistent syllable count and lengthening before the target led to fewer errors. For trisyllabic targets, accuracy was at ceiling, but final lengthening in all phrases reduced reaction times. The results imply that both rhythmic consistency (i.e. regular syllable count) and phrase-final lengthening play a role in word-spotting and, by extension, in speech processing in Korean, as in other languages. However, the results also reflect the language specific role of prosodic cues. First, the cues here were used primarily with disyllabic targets, which were cognitively more demanding to process partly due to their high phonological neighborhood density. Second, the facilitating effect of rhythmic consistency was weak, possibly because strict consistency is not present in spoken Korean. Overall, rhythmic consistency facilitated spotting when targets mapped onto phrases, confirming the importance of phrasal organization in Korean speech processing