Japanese speakers' English vowel perception assessed by event-related potentials (ERPs)

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K16884
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Shinohara Yasuaki 早稲田大学, 商学学術院, 専任講師 (10732737)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 音声知覚 / 第二言語 / 母音 / 事象関連電位(ERP) / ミスマッチ陰性電位(MMN)

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the present study, Japanese speakers’ English vowel perception has been investigated. According to the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM; Best, 1994), when perceiving unfamiliar non-native phonemes, people tend to assimilate them into the most articulatorily similar first-language (L1) phonemes, and therefore the discriminability of non-native phonemes depends on the listeners’ L1 phonemic categories. This hypothesis has been examined in both behavioral and brain response experiments. As a result, there was a significant difference in the discriminability of the same vowel contrasts between English and Japanese speakers observed in the behavioral experiment. However, the brain response data did not show the expected results.

Free Research Field

音声学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

母語の音韻体系が第二言語音声の知覚に及ぼす影響の解明に努めた本研究の成果は、これまで唱えられてきた第二言語音声知覚理論を検証するにとどまらず、さらなる理論の構築及び発展に貢献する。また、本研究を通じて得られた知見は、外国語の教育にも活かせる。日本語の母音体系が及ぼす英語母音知覚への影響が明らかになったことで、日本語話者に対する適切な英語教授法を見出すきっかけに成り得る。さらに、脳波計測の結果が仮説と異なったことで、脳波が示すものを再検証するきっかけとなり、脳波を手掛かりに音声知覚能力を調査する研究手法の発展にも貢献する。