Article published In:
Current State of Second Language Studies in JapanEdited by John Matthews and Shigenori Wakabayashi
[Journal of Second Language Studies 6:2] 2023
► pp. 210–237
Edited by John Matthews and Shigenori Wakabayashi
[Journal of Second Language Studies 6:2] 2023
► pp. 210–237
Perception of Japanese accented English segments in words
We studied the perception of segmental boundaries in native English and Japanese accents in terms of foreign accentedness, intelligibility and discrimination accuracy. Five American English vowels /ɪ, æ, ɑ, ə, ɝ/ and seven consonants /r, l, v, θ, f, t, k/ were extracted from English and Japanese words produced by an American English-Japanese bilingual speaker, and manipulated, with the acoustic properties shifting gradually from 100% Japanese to 100% American English using segmental foreign accent and gradation techniques. Perception tests were conducted online with native American English speakers, and groups of Japanese speakers with either low or high English proficiency. All three groups showed a negative correlation between the degree of foreign accent and intelligibility. Also, there was a greater reduction in intelligibility due to acoustic deviation from the native norm in consonants than in vowels. The results suggest that more standard-like accent does not necessarily improve intelligibility, thus highlighting the importance of FA research in terms of segmental accuracy.
Keywords: foreign accent, Japanese accented English, perception, segments, intelligibility, bilingual synthesis
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Phonetics and phonology of Japanese accented English
- 2.1Vowel features of English and Japanese accented English
- 2.2Consonant features of English and Japanese accented English
- 2.3Differences in prosodic features between English and Japanese
- 2.4Selecting the test words
- 3.Experimental methods
- 3.1Selecting and recording test word tokens
- 3.2Synthesizing bilingual tokens
- 3.3Participants for the perception tests
- 3.4Tasks for the perception tests
- 4.Results
- 4.1Full overview
- 4.2Consonants
- 4.3Vowels
- 4.4Summary of the results
- 4.5Inter-task correlation
- 5.Discussion and conclusion
- Acknowledgment
- Notes
-
References
References
Amano, S., Kondo, M. & Yamakawa, K.
(2021) “Predicting
and classifying Japanese singleton and geminate consonants using logarithmic duration”. The
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, 150 (3), 1830–1843, September 2021. 
Anderson-Hsieh, J., Johnson, R. & Koehler, K.
(1992) The
relationship between native speaker judgments of non-native pronunciation and deviance in segmentals, prosody, and syllable
structure. Language
Learning, vol. 42, no. 4, 529–555.
Anwyl-Irvine, A. L., Dalmaijer, E. S., Hodges, N., & Evershed, J. K.
(2021) Realistic
precision and accuracy of online experiment platforms, web browsers, and devices. Behavior
Research Methods.
Anwyl-Irvine, A. L., Massonié, J., Flitton, A., Kirkham, N. Z., & Evershed, J. K.
(2019) Gorilla
in our midst: an online behavioral experiment builder. Behavior Research
Methods.
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S.
(2015) Fitting
Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. Journal of Statistical
Software, 67(1), 1–48.
Bengrait, N.
(2020) Analysis
of Algerian students English intonation deviations with the employment of speech analyzer and Praat
programmes. Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and
Society, 3 (1), 27–65.
Bent, T. & Bradlow, A. R.
(2003) The
interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America,
114
(3), September 2003
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D.
(2022) Praat:
doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version
6.2.14, retrieved 24 May
2022 from [URL]
Bolton, K.
(2004) World
Englishes. In A. Davies, & C. Elder, (Eds.), Handbook
of Applied
Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell, 367–396.
Campbell, N. & Sagisaka, Y.
(1991) Moraic
and Syllable-level Effects on Speech Timing. Journal of Electronic Information Communication
Engineering
SP
90–107
1, 35–40.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., Goodwin, J. M. & Griner, B.
(2010) Teaching
Pronunciation: A course Book and Reference Guide (2nd eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Collins, B. & Mees, I. M.
(2013) Practical
Phonetics and Phonology – A resource book for Students (3rd
ed.). London: Routledge.
Cruttenden, A.
(2014) Gimson’s
Pronunciation of English (8th
ed.). London: Routledge.
Dauer, R.
(1983) Stress-timing
and syllable-timing re-analyzed. Journal of
Phonetics,
11
1, 52–62.
Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J.
(2015) Pronunciation
fundamentals: Evidence-based perspectives for L2 teaching and
research (Vol. 421). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Fayer, J. M. & Krasinski, E.
(1987) Native
and nonnative judgments of intelligibility and irritation. Language
Learning,
37
1, 313–326.
Fox, J. & Weisberg, S.
Ganong, W. F.
(1980) Phonetic
categorization in auditory word perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and
Performance,
6
(1), 110–125.
García Lecumberri, M. L., Barra-Chicote, B., Pérez Ramón, R., Yamagishi, J., & Cooke, M.
(2014) Generating
segmental foreign accent. Proceedings of
Interspeech 2014 1303–1306.
Grice, M. & Bauman, S.
(2007) An
Introduction to Intonation –Functions and Models, In J. Trouvain, & G. Ulrike (Eds), Non-native
Prosody: Phonetic Description and Teaching
Practice, 25–52, Mouton de Gruyter.
Gut, U.
(2003) Non-native
speech rhythm in German. Proceedings of 15th International Congress of Phonetic
Sciences, Barcelona, Spain, 3–9 August 2003, 2437–2440.
Han, M. S.
(1994) Mora
timing in Japanese, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America,
96–1
1, 73–82.
Hayes, B.
(1982) Extrametricality
and English stress. Linguistic
Inquiry,
13
(2), 227–76.
Henter, G. E., Lorenzo-Trueba, J., Wang, X., Kondo, M., & Yamagishi, J.
(2018) Cyborg
speech: Deep multilingual speech synthesis for generating segmental foreign accent with natural
prosody. 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics. Speech and Signal Processing
(ICASSP), 4799–4803. IEEE.
Hillenbrand, J. M., Getty, L. A., Clark, M. J., & Wheeler, K.
(1995) Acoustic
characteristics of American English vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America 97 (5 Pt
1): 3099–3111.
Hillenbrand, J. M., Clark, M. J., & Houde, R. A.
(2000) Some
effects of duration on vowel recognition. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America
108
1: 3013–22.
Hirahara, T. & Yamada, R.
(2004) Acoustic
Characteristics of Japanese Vowels. Proceedings of the 18th International Congress on
Acoustics, Kyoto, IV-3287-3290.
Hirschberg, J.
(2002) Communication
and Prosody: Functional Aspects of Prosody. Speech Communication, Volume
36, Issues 1–2, 31–43.
Horslund, C. S. & Van Nostrand, P. F.
(2022) Segmental
error patterns in Finnish-accented English. European Journal of Applied
Linguistics, Vol. 10 (1), 109–141.
Kachru, B. B.
(1985) Standards,
codification and socio-Segmental Variation of Japanese Speakers’ English linguistic realism: The English language in the outer
circle. In R. Quirk & H. G. Widdowson (Eds.), English
in the world: Teaching and learning the language and
literatures, 11–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(1992) Teaching
world Englishes. In B. B. Kachru (Ed.), The
other tongue: English across cultures. University of Illinois Press, 355–366.
Kirkpatrick, A. & Deterding, D.
(2011) World
Englishes. In J. Simpson (Ed.), Routledge
Handbook of Applied
Linguistics. London: Routledge, 373–387.
Kochanski, G., Grabe, E., Coleman, J. & Rosner, B.
(2005) Loudness
predicts prominence: fundamental frequency lends little. The Journal of the Acoustical Society
of
America, 118(2), 1038–1054.
Kochanski, G. & Orphanidou, C.
(2008) What
marks the beat of speech?. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America,
123
(5), 2780–91.
Kondo, M.
(2009) Is
Acquisition of L2 Phonemes Difficult? Production of English Stress by Japanese
Speakers. Proceedings of the 10th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition
Conference (GASLA 2009), 105–112. Somerville, MA.
(2013) Allophonic
Variation in Japanese Consonants and Problems of Second Language
Production’. in J. van de Veijer & T. Nishihara (Eds.). Current
Issues in Japanese Phonology: Segmental Variation in
Japanese, 35–51, Kaitakusha: Tokyo.
Kondo, M., Tsubaki, H. & Sagisaka, Y.
(2015) Segmental
Variation of Japanese Speakers’ English: Analysis of “the North Wind and the Sun” in AESOP
Corpus”. Journal of the Phonetic Society of
Japan, 19 (1), April, 3–17.
Konishi, T. & Kondo, M.
(2015) Developmental
Change in English Stress Manifestation by Japanese Speakers. Proceedings of the 18th
International Congress of Phonetic Science, Glasgow, UK, Paper
No. 10291, 10–14 August, 2015.
Konishi, T., Yun, J. & Kondo, M.
(2018) Acoustic
correlates of L2 English Stress- Comparison of Japanese English and Korean English. Phonetics
and Speech
Sciences, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 9–14.
Koster, C. J. & Koet, T.
(1993) The
evaluation of accent in the English of Dutchmen. Language
Learning, 431, 69–92.
Lee, B., Guion, S. G., & Harada, T.
(2006) Acoustic
analysis of the production of unstressed English vowels by early and late Korean and Japanese
bilinguals. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition,
28
(3), 487–513.
Lee, J., Kim, D. J., & Park, H.
(2019) Native
listeners’ evaluations of pleasantness, foreign accent, comprehensibility, and fluency in the speech of accented
talkers. Proceedings of the 10th Annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching
Conference, 168–178.
Length, R. V.
Levi, S. V., Winters, S. J., & Pisoni, D. B.
(2007) Speaker-independent
factors affecting the perception of foreign accent in a second language. The Journal of the
Acoustical Society of
America,
121
(4), 2327–2338.
Levis, J. M.
(2018) Intelligibility,
Oral Communication, and the Teaching of
Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Meng, H., Tseng, C., Kondo, M., Harrison, A. M. & Visceglia, T.
(2009) Studying
L2 Suprasegmental Features in Asian Englishes: A Position Paper. The Proceedings of 2009
INTERSPEECH, 1715–1718, Brighton, UK, September, 2009.
Mullennix, J. W., Pisoni, D. B., & Martin, C. S.
(1989) Some
effects of talker variability on spoken word recognition. The Journal of the acoustical society
of
America,
85
(1), 365–378.
Munro, M. J. & Derwing, T. M.
(1995) Foreign
Accent, Comprehensibility, and Intelligibility in the Speech of Second Language
Learners. Language
Learning. 45:1. 73–97.
(2001) Modeling
perceptions of the accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 speech: The role of speaking
rate. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition.
23
(4): 451–468.
(2020) Foreign
accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility, redux. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation,
Volume 6, Issue
3, Nov 2020, 283–309.
NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute
(Ed.)
(2016) NHK Nihongo Hatsuon Accent
Shin-Dictionary (NHK New Japanese Pronunciation Accent
Dictionary). Tokyo: NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute [NHK Hoso Bunka Kenkyujo].
Nogita, A., Yamane, N., & Bird, S.
(2013) The
Japanese unrounded back vowel/ɯ/is in fact rounded central/front [ʉ-ʏ]. Ultrafest VI Program
and Abstract Booklet, 39–42, Sitert av 15 Beslektede
artikler.
Pérez-Ramón, R., Cooke, M. & García Lecumberri, M. L.
(2020) Is
segmental foreign accent perceived categorically?. Speech
Communication,
117
1, 28–37.
Pérez-Ramón, R., García Lecumberri, M. L., & Cooke, M.
(2022) Foreign
accent strength and intelligibility at the segmental level. Speech
Communication,
137
1, 70–76.
Pérez-Ramón, R. & Kondo, M.
(2021) Relationship
between reaction time and nativeness rating. The proceedings of the 35th Japan Phonetic Society
Annual Meeting, 95–100, 25–26 September, 2021.
Polyanskaya, L., Ordin, M., & Busa, M. G.
(2017) Relative
salience of speech rhythm and speech rate on perceived foreign accent in a second
language. Language and
Speech,
60
(3), 333–355.
Port, R. F., Dalby, J. & O’Dell, M.
(1987) Evidence
for Mora Timing in Japanese, Journal of the Acoustic Society of
America,
81
1: 51, 1574–1585.
Price, P., Ostendorf, M., Shattuck-Hufnagel, S. & Fong, C.
(1991) The
Use of Prosody in Syntactic Disambiguation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America,
90
(6), 2956–2970.
R Core Team
(2020) R: A language and
environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL [URL]
RStudio Team
(2020) RStudio: Integrated
Development for R. RStudio, PBC, Boston, MA.
Roach, P.
(1982) On
the distinction between ‘stress-timed’ and ‘syllable-timed’
language. In D. Crystal (Ed.), Linguistic
controversies: essays in linguistic theory in honour of F. R.
Palmer. London: Arnold.
Rogerson-Revell, P.
(2011) English
Phonology and Pronunciation Teaching. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Rognoni, L. & Busà, M. G.
(2014) Testing
the effects of segmental and suprasegmental phonetic cues in foreign accent rating: An experiment using prosody
transplantation. Proceeding of the International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second
Language Speech, Concordia Working Papers in Applied
Linguistics (Vol. 51). 547–560.
Saito, K.
(2021) What
characterizes comprehensible and native-like pronunciation among English-as-a-second-language speakers? Meta-analyses of
phonological, rater, and instructional factors. Tesol
Quarterly,
55
(3), 866–900.
Saitô, Y.
(2006) Nihongo Onseigaku Nyûmon [An Introduction to Japanese
Phonetics] (2nd
ed.). Tokyo: Sanseido.
Sato, Y.
(1993) The
durations of syllable-final nasals and the mora hypothesis in
Japanese. Phonetica
50
1, 44–67.
Tajima, K., Port, R. F., & Dalby, J.
(1997) Effects
of temporal correction on intelligibility of foreign-accented English. Journal of
Phonetics,
25
(1), 1–24.
Thompson, H. S.
(1980) Stress
and salience in English: theory and practice. Palo Alto Research Center, CA: Xerox.
Vance, T. J.
(2008) The
Sounds of Japanese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Well, J. C.
(1982a) Accents
of English 1: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(1982b) Accents
of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wright, S. M., Lathouwers, M. D., Best, C. T., & Tyler, M. D.
(2016) Cross-accent
word recognition is affected by perceptual assimilation. Proceedings of the Sixteenth
Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6–9 December 2016, Parramatta,
Australia, 165–168.
Yazawa, K., Ozaki, Y., Short, G., Kondo, M. & Sagisaka, Y.
(2015) A
Study of the Production of Unstressd Vowels by Japanese Speakers of English Using the J-AESOP
Corpus, Proceedings of the Joint Conference of 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA
held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation
(O-COCOSDA/CASLRE), IEEE, pp.96–100. Shanghai, China. 28–30 October,
2015.