Production and Perception of Intonation Patterns in Second Language Acquisition

我们准备了不同语调模式的日语和英语句子作为语言材料。这些句子是由说日语的人和说美国人的人写的。使用了一台使用个人电脑的语调训练装置，在不同的日期举行了四次会议。本实验的目的是找出英语和日语语调模式习得最有效的方法。我们发现，当学习者的句子的语调曲线比母语者的语调曲线与他们的口语输出句子的语调曲线一起显示时，学习者的进步最大。不同类型的语调模式在习得上存在不同程度的困难。另外，本研究还对英语和日语的母语者和学习者在英语和日语中实现对比重音的情况进行了产生性实验。在元音的语调模式和时序控制上存在显著差异。此外，对比重音词在句子中的位置对习得难度也有影响。进一步的研究考察了美国英语学习者和日本英语学习者的英语重读元音的自然阈值。相反，日语学习者的日语重音元音的自然度阈值与美国学习者的日语元音的自然阈值进行了比较。我们发现，某些因素，如音位元音长度的区分和语音条件效应，对这些自然性判断产生了影响。

We prepared Japanese and English sentences with various intonation patterns as linguistic materials. The sentences were produced by Japanese speakers and American speakers. An Intonation Training Device which uses a personal computer was employed and four sessions were held on different days. Thepurpose of this production experiment was to find out the most effective method for the acquisition of intonation patterns in English and Japanese. We found that the learners made progress to the greatest degree when the intonation curves of sentences by the learners were displayd over those by a native speaker of the language together with their oral production of those sentences. Also, different degrees of difficulty in the acquisition were shown for various types of intonation patterns.Another production experiment was carried out on the realization of contrastive stress in English and Japanese by the native speakers and the learners of each language. Significant differences were observed in the intonation patterns and the timing control of vowels. Also, the position of the word with contrastive stress in a sentencewas found to have effect on the difficulty of acquisition. Further study examined the naturalness threshold of English stressed vowels for Americans and Japanese learners of English. Conversely, the naturalness threshold of Japanese accented vowels for Japanese speakers was compared to that of Japanese spoken by American learners. We found certain factors, such as phonemic vowel length distinction and a voice-conditioned effect, which exerted an influence on these judgments of naturalness.