Harim Kwon | 권하림

My research revolves around the nature of the cognitive representations of human speech sounds and the relationship of these representations to their physical aspects. Given this focus, my research typically uses empirical data from monolingual speakers of specific languages, multilingual speakers, or learners of an additional languages, to study the consequences of speakers-listeners' linguistic experiences (e.g., learning first or additional languages) for their phonological knowledge, and their perception and production of speech. These are some themes that I am currently working on.

Spontaneous imitation as a lens for understanding the relation between speech perception and production

My research program developed during my doctoral years examines the relation between speech perception and production, focusing on spontaneous imitation, or unintended changes in one's own speech after hearing model speech. My work in this domain seeks to understand the role of phonological grammar in the process of speech imitation, asking whether speech imitation, connecting perception and production, involves abstract phonological categories or individual acoustic properties.

Representative publications and presentations

2023 Wang, Y., & Kwon, H. Generalizatino of spontaneous imitation from nonwords to real words. JASA Expresws Letter 3(9), 095206.

2021 Kwon, H. A non-contrastive cue in spontaneous imitation: comparing mono- and bilingual imitators. Journal of Phonetics 88C, 101083.

2019 Kwon, H. The role of native phonology in spontaneous imitation: Evidence from Seoul Korean. Laboratory Phonology 10.

How speakers temporally organize their speech and how listeners use the temporal information

I have been working on several different projects on the temporal organizations of articulation, and their perceptual consequences. My works in this domain show that the temporal organizations of speech sounds can be a non-negligible part of language-specific phonetic knowledge.

Representative publications and presentations

2024 Kwon, H., & Chitoran, I. Perception of illusory clusters: the role of native timing. Phonetica 81, 153-184.

2023 Alkhonini, O., & Kwon, H. Temporal organization of word-initial consonant sequences in Najdi Arabic. In Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.

Biomechanically or phonologically motivated articulatory adjustments

I have recently expanded my research to articulatory aspects of human speech sounds using the ultrasound tongue imaging technology, and have been examining the tongue root position during consonants of different laryngeal categories in different languages. These projects aim to reveal whether the tongue root displacement during consonants is associated with the phonological properties or the physiological setting of the larynx and vocal folds.

Representative publications and presentations

2024 Ahn, S., Kwon, H., & Faytak, M. Tongue position in Mandarin Chinese voiceless stops. JASA Express Letters 4, 025207.

2022 Alamri, S., Kwon, H., & Chanethom, V. The effect of voicing, gemination, and manner on tongue root position in Saudi Arabic coronal obstruents. Presented at Ultrafest X.

2022 Ahn, S., & Kwon, H. Tongue position of stops in post-vocalic and post-voiceless position: An ultrasound study of American English, Brazilian Portuguese, and Seoul Korean. Presented at LabPhon 18.

Influence of linguistic experience

I am also interested in understanding how learning a language (either as first or as additional) influences learners' speech perception, production, and their phonological system.

Representative publications and presentations

2022 Guo, Y., & Kwon, H. Production and perception of Mandarin laryngeal contrast: The role of postplosive f0. Frontiers in Communication 7, 896013.

2021 Chanethom, V., Masella-Soldati, G., Todd, H., Brennan, H., Myers, J., Hannon, D., Yaghmour, B., & Kwon, H. The Non-Native Articulatory corpus—French: an ultrasound corpus of French as an additional language. Presented at the 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

2017 Kwon, H. Language experience, speech perception and loanword adaptation: Variable adaptation of English word-final plosives into Korean. Journal of Phonetics 60, 1-19.