Project/Area Number |
08680312
|
Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
Section | 一般 |
Research Field |
Japanese language education
|
Research Institution | Tohoku University |
Principal Investigator |
SUKEGAWA Yasuhiko Tohoku University, International Student Center, Associate Professor, 留学生センター, 助教授 (70241560)
|
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SATO Sigeru Tohoku University, International Student Center, Professor, 教授 (40137592)
MAEKAWA Kikuo National Language research Institute, Chief Researcher, 言語行動研究部, 主任研究官 (20173693)
|
Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1997
|
Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1997)
|
Budget Amount *help |
¥2,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
|
Keywords | FOREIGN LEARNERS / PROSODY / PERCIPTION / EXPERIMENTAL PHONETICS / 長母音 / 短母音化現象 / 音響分析 / アクセント / 日本語学習者 / 音節 / 超重音節 |
Research Abstract |
It is well known that Japanese long vowels are difficult for learners of Japanese as a second language. Expressions like "doub1e-length", "two beats" or the like are found in Japanese textbooks. In actual speech, however, length of some long vowels is shortened and they sound like short vowels. In this presentation, we describe preliminary research of the long-vowel-shortening phenomena which was carried out using three different research methods. First we analyzed acoustically recordings of native speakers reading sentences written on cards and found that long-vowel-shortening did not occur. Then we analyzed a recording of spontaneous conversation and found that long-vowel-shortening was more likely to occur at non-word-initial positions than at wordinitial positions. Lastly we prepared synthesized sentences in which vowel length was controlled in ten stages arid carried out a perception test. The results indicated that native speakers of Japanese have less keen sense of vowel shortening at non-word-initial positions than at word-initial positions. Considering these results we expect that teaching a rule of vowel-shortening to learners will promote their listening skills and acquisition of Japanese long vowels.
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