Acquisition of English Rhythm: Production and Perception in Discourse

本研究的目的是探讨日本英语学习者的节奏习得。为了观察日语学习者的习得过程，我们在一年的时间里每月对相同的日语科目进行一次录音。本研究以2名日本七年级学生（1男1女）、12名美国七年级学生（6男6女）和7名美国七年级学生（5男2女）为研究对象。研究期间，一名日本受试者在美国学习一年，另一名日本受试者继续在日本接受教育。实验中使用的语言材料是两段。我们对这些材料进行了声学分析，分析弱形式的产生以及话语中关注对节奏模式产生的影响。对于日本初中生，我们观察了习得的顺序、速度和程度。在较早的录音中，两名日本受试者在段落中句子的实现中都表现出单词重音的使用，而美国受试者则使用句子重音。在研究后期，一位在美国学习的日本人开始表现出与母语人士相似的弱形式的产生模式，从而表现出句子重音在句子实现中的使用。本研究显示，两名日本学习者在节奏习得上存在显著差异，这表明弱形式的产生是习得的一个重要因素。此外，语篇焦点对时间控制的影响在英语母语者和日语成功学习者中被观察到，但对其他日语学习者没有影响。

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the acquisition of rhythm by Japanese learners of English. In order to observe the acquisition process among Japanese learners, we carried out recordings of the same Japanese subjects once a month for a period of one year. Two Japanese 7th graders (1 male and 1 female), 12 Americans (6 males and 6 females), and 7 American 7th graders (5 males and 2 females) served as subjects in this study. One of the Japanese subjects studied in the U.S. during the research period of one year, while the other Japanese subject continued her education in Japan. The linguistic materials used in the experiments were two passages. We carried out acoustic analysis of these materials, analyzing the production of weak forms and the influence of focus on the production of rhythmic patterns in discourse. As for the Japanese junior high students, we observed the order, speed and the degree of acquisition. In the earlier recordings, both Japanese subjects displayed the use of word accent in the realization of sentences in the passages, as compared to the use of sentence accent by the Americans. Later in the research period, one of the Japanese subjects who studied in the U. S. began to show a production pattern of weak forms which was similar to that of a native speaker, thus displaying the use of sentence accent in the realization of sentences. This study showed a conspicuous difference in the acquisition of rhythm between the two Japanese learners, indicating that the production of weak forms is a significant factor in acquisition. Furthermore, the influence of focus in discourse on the temporal control was observed among native speakers of English and the successful Japanese I learner, but not for the other Japanese learner.