English /s/ and Korean sh/-/s*/ Contrast in Seoul and Busan Dialects: A Study of Category Solidity

The primary goal of the current study was to examine category solidity of Korean alveolar fricatives in the Busan and Seoul dialects of Korean. Considering the common belief of <TEX>/sʰ/-/s^*/</TEX> neutralization in Kyungsang speech, plain <TEX>/sʰ/</TEX> and fortis <TEX>/s^*/</TEX> fricatives of Busan speakers were examined against the same fricatives of Seoul speakers. Perceptual distance between Korean <TEX>/sʰ/</TEX> and <TEX>/s^*/</TEX> on the one hand and English /s/ on the other was investigated by use of across-linguistic mapping method. Two experiments of a perceptual mapping task of English /s/ to Korean <TEX>/sʰ/</TEX> and <TEX>/s^*/</TEX> and a <TEX>/s^*/</TEX>-production task were conducted on users of the Busan and Seoul dialects of Korean. The results from the perception and production experiments suggested that at a micro-level, younger Busan speakers have less solid category stability for Korean <TEX>/s^*/</TEX> compared with Seoul speakers, although their production of <TEX>/sʰ/</TEX> and <TEX>/s^*/</TEX> was as highly distinctive from each other as that of Seoul speakers.