This study examines whether so-called native-like English pronunciation by Japanese English learners (JELs) is perceived as “natural” by both JELs and native speakers of English (ENSs) and which features contributed to their perceptions. In order to compare the influence of phonetic features, especially that of intonation patterns, with that of vowel insertions, JELs read sample sentences in four patterns, that is, in a fall-rise intonation or in a fall intonation, with or without vowel insertions between consonants. JEL and ENS listeners were asked to rate the naturalness of the speeches based on a 10- point Likert scale. Their evaluation of the recordings without vowel epenthesis was significantly higher than those with a vowel epenthesis. While JELs and ENSs showed similar tendencies in their perceptual evaluation, JELs tended to rate recordings with vowel epentheses lower than ENSs did. These findings suggest that, although vowel epenthesis is a significant predictor of accent ratings, JELs may be too strict with it in judging the naturalness of their English pronunciation.
Cite as: Ueno, M., Magoku, T., Nishiyama, A. (2018) The possible features of natural English pronunciation for Japanese learners and native speakers of English. Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2018), 126-130, doi: 10.21437/ISAPh.2018-23
@inproceedings{ueno18_isaph,
author={Maito Ueno and Toshiya Magoku and Atsuko Nishiyama},
title={{The possible features of natural English pronunciation for Japanese learners and native speakers of English}},
year=2018,
booktitle={Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2018)},
pages={126--130},
doi={10.21437/ISAPh.2018-23}
}