Characteristics of second language phonology in natural conversations

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21626
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 2:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Hirose Yuki 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 教授 (50322095)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 第二言語処理 / code switching / 言語切り替え / 母音長 / 母音挿入

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated the phonetic phenomena in English speech by native Japanese speakers learning it as a second language. By recording and analyzing the free conversations of both early learners (acquired during early childhood) and late learners (acquired after puberty) who are native Japanese speakers, the study examined the acoustic properties of specific discourse markers in an environment where both languages could be used and switched freely. Additionally, several experiments were conducted to examine how the Japanese mora, a unit of rhythm, affects the perception of non-native phonemes, focusing on the phenomena of vowel epenthesis and the perception of vowel length.

Free Research Field

心理言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本語母語話者が第二言語として英語を発話産出する際の様々な音韻現象を、実験室環境で なく自然な会話において、とくに両言語の使用・切り替え(code switching)が随意に行えるという極めて非制限的な環境において、詳しく観察・分析する。ここでターゲットとなる、分節的および超分節的な現象については豊富な先行研究の蓄積から精査したうえで整理されている。先行研 究における知見の蓄積を再評価・再検討することにより、second language phonologyのメカニ ズムに迫る。