The limited role of perception in Korean loanword adaptation: The Korean three-way laryngeal categorization of Japanese, French, English and Chinese plosives

This paper argues that loanword adaptation grammar may involve non-perception-based loanword-specific factors by showing discrepancies found between loanword patterns and perception patterns of the laryngeal categories in Korean. The paper reports a perception experiment on the plosives of Japanese, French, English and Chinese by Korean listeners. Our results indicate that perception is only partially reflected in Korean loanword adaptation and that loanword patterns need other explanations, presumably a loanword specific grammar of a particular L2.

► Korean perception of the plosives of Japanese, French, English, and Chinese is reported.
► Perception is only partially reflected in Korean loanword adaptation.
► Non-perceptual factors such as analogy also seem to control the loanword adaptation process.