Positional error distribution in Thai speakers’ acquisition of Korean stop consonants: A speech corpus analysis

This study investigates Thai learners" acquisition of Korean stop consonants at the onset position through analysis of an L2 speech corpus, revealing error disparities influenced by articulation position. Specifically, palatal/velar stops exhibit higher error rates than bilabial/alveolar stops. Additionally, bilabial/alveolar lenis consonants are more frequently mispronounced as aspirated, while palatal/velar lenis stops are more often mispronounced as fortis. We argue that these position-specific differences stem from negative transfer attributed to positionally dissimilar stop contrasts in Thai phonology, emphasizing the importance of articulation position in Thai learners" acquisition. This corpus-based approach illuminates the interaction between native phonological systems and second language acquisition, offering insights into phonemic acquisition challenges.