Vowel formants depend on shape and length of vocal tract. As age increases, the larynx is gradually descending for 4 years after birth. This study measured vowel formants and vowel space area from 3 to 6 Year-old Korean children in Jeju area to inv... Vowel formants depend on shape and length of vocal tract. As age increases, the larynx is gradually descending for 4 years after birth. This study measured vowel formants and vowel space area from 3 to 6 Year-old Korean children in Jeju area to investigate the characteristics of vowel production and speech intelligibility in Korean young children. A total of 80 children(10 boys and 10 girls for each age) were participated in this study. For obtaining formants, 7 Korean vowels(/a/,/e/,/i/,/o/,/u/,/?/) were used and vowel space areas (triangular, quadrangular), and speech intelligibility were calculated and compared based gender and age. Results showed that F1 and F2 of /e/ and /i/ vowels were significantly different in age. In particular, front vowel /e/ and /i/ were significantly lower in 3 years of age and gradually increased with age. For gender, F2 of vowel /a/ and /e/ were significantly higher in girls while F2 of vowel /i/ were significantly higher in boys (p<.05), indicating that development progress of horizontal and vertical tongue movements may be more pronounced after 3 years old of age and it can affect speech intelligibility. With respect to vowel space area, there was significant differences were found in ages (p<.05) whereas no differences in gender(p>.05). Vowel space area was increased with age and much larger change was exhibited in rectangular vowel space than in triangular vowel space. Moreover, speech intelligibility was significantly difference in age(p<.05) while no significant difference was observed in gender(p>.05). Significant relationships were found between triangular vowel space areas (r=.299, p<.01) or quadrangular vowel space area (r=.570, p<.01) and speech intelligibility. Significant relationships were found between triangular vowel space areas (r=.299, p<.01) or quadrangular vowel space area (r=.570, p<.01) and speech intelligibility. Accordingly, quadrangular vowel space area composed of /i-e-a-u/ was more sensitive than triangualr vowel space area composed of /i-a-u/ to reflect objectively the vowel movement space and speech intelligibility. ，韩语毕业论文，韩语毕业论文 |
