Perception and Production in Pitch Accent System of Korean

This research investigates dialectal variations of the pitch accent system in Korean. Specifically, this paper is focused on how speakers of a nonlexical pitch accent dialect are influenced by a lexical pitch accent dialect. Three experiments have participants from two dialectal regions produce pitch accent minimal pairs, and imitate and identify continua spanning pitch accent categories. Results show general correlation between productions and imitations and identifications in Kyungsang Korean speakers, and clear cases of divergence in Cholla speakers. Identification patterns suggest a variety of categorization schemes in these speakers, while their imitation results consistently indicate a lack of robust categorization.