2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Using an Investigation of the Optimum Speech Tempo of English to Develop High-Level Listening Materials

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23720259
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	English linguistics
Research Institution	Iwate prefectural university,Miyako college
Principal Investigator	KAMIYA Atsunori 岩手県立大学宮古短期大学部, その他部局等, 准教授 (60511160)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	テンポ / フット / リスニング / リズム / 英語音声教育
Research Abstract	The purpose of this study is to investigate the Optimum Speech Tempo of English by comparing the English utterances produced by English speakers (ES) and Japanese speakers of English (JS). In this study, it is postulated that there is a threshold where the temporal compensation at the foot level stops functioning. By conducting some experiments involving native English speakers and Japanese speakers of English, I evaluated this hypothesis. The comparison of experimental data between English speakers and Japanese speakers of English verified the hypothesis, revealing that the Optimum Speech Tempo of English exists between around 400ms.-500ms. My future aim is to use the data to produce many kinds of high-level listening materials