Production of the Japanese moraic nasal /N/ by speakers of English: An ultrasound study

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13254
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02090:Japanese language education-related
• Research Institution: Maebashi Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Mizoguchi Ai 前橋工科大学, 工学部, 准教授 (10824823)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 第二言語習得 / 撥音 / 調音 / 日本語 / 超音波 / 鼻音 / 発音

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The articulation of the Japanese moraic nasal /N/ by Japanese learners, especially the tongue movement, was observed using an ultrasound device. The tongue contours of three native English speakers and four native Chinese speakers were analyzed, and the results were presented at international conferences and published in the proceedings. While most native Japanese speakers articulated with the back of the tongue, three out of three native English speakers and three out of four native Chinese speakers pronounced it as an alveolar /n/. Although /n/ is one of the allophones of /N/ and is unlikely to cause communicative misunderstandings, these results allow us to visually demonstrate to learners that /N/ is a phoneme that does not require alveolar constriction.

Free Research Field

音声学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

言語研究において、発話された音声の音響分析に比べ、発話時の調音分析は、口腔内を観察することの難しさから、あまり進んでいない現状がある。とりわけ、第二言語学習者の調音データは不足している。通言語的にみて特殊な音素である日本語撥音を用いて、学習者が母語にない音素を獲得する過程を舌形状から解明する本研究は、学習者の発音の明瞭性や流暢性を向上させるための基礎データとなるだけでなく、学習者の調音特徴から音声知覚（perception）と音声産出（production）の関係や、音声（phonetics）と音韻（phonology）の関係を議論するための材料となる。