EGG-Facilitated Tension Contrast Study of the Production of Japanese Plosives by L1 Speakers and L2 Learners in Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K00478
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02060:Linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: Fukuoka Masako 三重大学, 国際交流センター, 教授 (70346005)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 日本語教育 / 音声 / 第2言語習得 / 破裂音 / 北京語 / 上海語 / 韓国語（ソウル語） / 範疇知覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated category perception of Japanese plosives, at word onset and mid-word using synthetic stimulus sounds with different voice onset times (10msec).
Beijing speakers, who did not have voiced plosives in L1, had a significant difference of 0.1% to 5% from Japanese speakers in terms of categorical perception in mid-word, but they are sensitive to prevoicing and there was no significant difference at word onset. Further, the timing of articulation and vocalization was captured. Seoul dialect speakers, who have a voiced plosive in L1, did not show a significant difference in mid-word, but there was a significant difference of 0.1% of the total stimulation sounds at the word onset so it was recognized that the L2 sound is in the same category as the L1 sound.　It was suggested that second language learners who don’t have voiced plosives in their L1 can perceive the prevoicing of Japanese plosives as an ‘early reference point’.

Free Research Field

日本語教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

母語の破裂音の対立が異なる東アジアの日本語学習者が、日本語の破裂音をどのように知覚しているのか、同じ条件の下に実験調査した研究は少ない。本研究では気息区間とvoice barの長さを変えたVOT（Voice Onset Time）という音響的尺度を使って、範疇知覚を中心に分析した。
L2音の知覚は、第2言語学習者の「言語間の聴覚的音声距離」に依存し、母語に有声破裂音がない第2言語学習者の方が、日本語有声破裂音の「prevoicing」を早く知覚できることが示唆された。