| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the acquisition of rhythm by Japanese learners of English. In order to observe the acquisition process among Japanese learners, we carried out recordings of the same Japanese subjects once a month for a period of one year. Two Japanese 7th graders (1 male and 1 female), 12 Americans (6 males and 6 females), and 7 American 7th graders (5 males and 2 females) served as subjects in this study. One of the Japanese subjects studied in the U.S. during the research period of one year, while the other Japanese subject continued her education in Japan. The linguistic materials used in the experiments were two passages. We carried out acoustic analysis of these materials, analyzing the production of weak forms and the influence of focus on the production of rhythmic patterns in discourse. As for the Japanese junior high students, we observed the order, speed and the degree of acquisition. In the earlier recordings, both Japanese subjects displayed the use of word accent in the realization of sentences in the passages, as compared to the use of sentence accent by the Americans. Later in the research period, one of the Japanese subjects who studied in the U. S. began to show a production pattern of weak forms which was similar to that of a native speaker, thus displaying the use of sentence accent in the realization of sentences. This study showed a conspicuous difference in the acquisition of rhythm between the two Japanese learners, indicating that the production of weak forms is a significant factor in acquisition. Furthermore, the influence of focus in discourse on the temporal control was observed among native speakers of English and the successful Japanese I learner, but not for the other Japanese learner.
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