The Projection of Syllable Structure

In this study, we examine if underlying syllable structure is projected in an articulatory manner at the phonetic execution level while taking into account the intervocalic voicing rule in Korean. Confining the scope of the study to the accentual phrase-medial condition, we find that syllable positional effects (onset vs. coda) were present, with more reduction in the intervocalic coda. The results show that various phonetic manifestations of prosodic structure are subject to being obvious to the speaker/listener even within a smaller prosodic domain. In the accentual phrase-medial condition, spatio-temporal gestural specifications in the input were still projected distinctively. Based on the results, three phonological phenomena pertinent to coda reduction were further discussed. Firstly, coda reduction was compatible with syllable-dependent intergestural coordination of a consonant with respect to a vowel (synchronous coordination for onset and sequential coordination for coda). Secondly, coda reduction at the production level did not continue to be projected to the perception level, not providing a concrete evidence of an established relationship between coda reduction and perceptual resyllabification. Lastly, the prevalence of regressive directionality observed in place assimilation can also find its basis in coda reduction (/C1C2/→ [C2C2]).