In order to apply the principles of perception to EFL phonetic education, the present study examined perception of American English intervocalic /l/ ([l]), /r/ ([ɹ]) and flapped/tapped /t/ ([ɾ]) by Japanese listeners. The results indicated that the listeners discriminated the [ɹ]-[ɾ] contrast better than the [l]-[ɹ] and [l]-[ɾ] contrasts. Most of both English [l] and [ɹ] stimuli were perceptually assimilated to Japanese /r/ or sounds that include /r/, while [ɾ] was mostly assimilated to Japanese /d/ and /r/. English [ɾ] was rated as the most Japanese-like sound of the three consonants.
Cite as: Ooigawa, T. (2016) Japanese Listeners’ Perception of American English Intervocalic /l/, /r/ and Flapped /t/. Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2016), 62-67, doi: 10.21437/ISAPh.2016-13
@inproceedings{ooigawa16_isaph,
author={Tomohiko Ooigawa},
title={{Japanese Listeners’ Perception of American English Intervocalic /l/, /r/ and Flapped /t/}},
year=2016,
booktitle={Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2016)},
pages={62--67},
doi={10.21437/ISAPh.2016-13}
}