Categorical or continuous production in lexical pitch accent contrasts of Korean

The current research investigated the relation of categorization and production using imitation and production paradigm. More specifically, the imitation and production responses of this experiment were analyzed in order to find out individual speaker differences in lexical pitch accent categories of North Kyungsang Korean. A significant number of imitation and production responses favoured the categorical production account, although in general such responses are dependent on lexical pitch accent types. According to the current results, the lexical pitch accent contrasts seemed to show individually different patterns. That is, some participants showed strict categorical production, whereas others showed continuous effects in production of pitch contour in North Kyungsang Korean. On the basis of the relation of categorization and production in current research, the results revealed that the relation of categorization and production relies on individual speakers’ cognitive systems.