表題番号:2024C-760 日付:2024/10/01
研究課題Segmental foreign accent manipulation and nativeness perception
研究者所属(当時) 資格 氏名
(代表者) 国際学術院 国際教養学部 講師 ペレス ラモン ルベン
研究成果概要

1.  Yazawa K, Konishi T, Pérez-Ramón R and Kondo M. More foreign-accented but more comprehensible: Attrition and amelioration of L1 speech in proficient L2 learners [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2024, 13:867 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.148193.1)

Read speech of 154 L1 Japanese learners of L2 English in the J-AESOP corpus was examined, where approximately one-third of them had lived in English-speaking countries and the rest had never lived outside of Japan. Their L1 speech was rated by another group of native Japanese listeners for accentedness and comprehensibility (from October 25, 2022 to August 20, 2023), while their L2 speech was previously rated by native American English listeners for nativelikeness or proficiency. The speakers’ vowel acoustics were also examined.

The overall results suggest two main conclusions. First, perceptible L1 foreign accent likely results from L1 disuse rather than L2 interference, thereby L1 pronunciation differs from native norms at a system-wide rather than category-specific level. Second, L2 learning has a positive influence on perceived L1 comprehensibility, rather than individuals with clearer and more comprehensible L1 speech being inherently better L2 learners.

2.   Pérez Ramón, R., Kondo, M., Amand, M. (2024) Discrimination and evaluation of accentedness in Japanese accented English (Accents, 2024) - Lodz, Poland.

Our results show that vowels were better discriminated than consonants by the Japanese listeners, which means that they may be more sensitive to differences amongst some pairs of vowels. By separately analysing the effect of each of the experimental vowels, we found better discrimination skills among /a/-like vowels ([æ, ɑː]) than other accented realisations, e.g., in the perception of [ɪ] when produced as [i]. As expected, the Japanese listeners had problems discerning the consonantal [l-ɾ] pair. Interestingly, the distinction between pronunciation of native English (NE) [v] and Japanese accented English (JE) [b] seems to have been easier than the distinction between NE [f] and JE [h]. As for the plosives, the aspiration in NE [kh] compared with non-aspirated JE [k] may have elicited a slightly categorical perception that did not occur with NE-JE [th-t]. Importantly, the degree of perceived accentedness was higher in vowels than in consonants, which implies that Japanese listeners may be better able to discern vowel mispronunciations.

3.   Interacción segmental entre español y japonés: retos fonológicos en la adquisición de una segunda lengua (Congreso de la Asociación Japonesa de Hispanistas, 2024) - Kyoto, Japan.