Interpreting Within- and Between-speaker Variability in L2 Korean Stop Productions

Abstract

Although it has been claimed that L2 speech is more variable than L1 speech, there is some evidence that L2 speech can be less variable than L1 speech. In this study we investigated whether L2 Korean speech is more variable than L1 Korean speech by looking at the VOT and f0 of stop productions from L2 Korean learners from four L1 backgrounds, considering both within- and between-speaker variability. It was found that L2 Korean stop productions are not necessarily more variable than native productions. For VOT, only L1 Vietnamese speakers’ lenis stops were more variable than those of L1 Korean speakers, and only in terms of within-speaker variability. For f0, it was found that the level of variability depended on the stop type, although significant L1-L2 differences were not found. We conclude by discussing how investigation into variability can help aid in the interpretation of measures of central tendency that are often used in research on L2 Korean phonological acquisition.