Age-related perceptual difference of Kyungsang Korean accent contrast: A diachronic observation

This study investigated the perception of lexical pitch accent contrasts between innovative and conservative listeners under a sound change. Younger and older listeners speaking Kyungsang Korean participated in the 2AFC identification task. The participants responded to stimuli systematically varying spectral and temporal F0 properties (i.e., peak duration, onset/peak F0 values) and talker voices (i.e., older vs younger talker). Results showed that younger listeners utilized the temporal cue differently from older listeners, and listeners' perception also varied by talker age. Discussion was made in terms of consistency between the perception and production and the effect of social information in speech perception.