Characteristics of the Phoneme Boundary in the Second Language Learning

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Some of the phoneme boundaries show complex acoustic characteristics which do not fit with simple psycho-acoustic expectations. Such phoneme boundaries are expected to be especially difficult for the learners of the second language. In the case of Japanese, special moraec phonemes, which are mainly identified thorough durational characteristics, are often difficult for the foreign learners. This study analyzed the perception of the durational characteristics in the identification of these phonemes by the foreign learners and the native speakers of Japanese. In the identification of Japanese long / short vowels, foreign learners showed effects of pitch, intensity and syllable positions while native Japanese did not show such effects. From general psycho-acoustic point of view, it is expected that the pitch and intensity affect the perceptual impression of duration. The native Japanese appears to have special criteria different from naive perception of durational characteristics. In the identification of the single/geminate stop consonants, which is basically based on the duration of the consonant closure, native Japanese subjects showed increased response of geminate identification with the increased duration of the preceding vowel. This result shows that their identification is based on the syllable timing. Above results suggest that the syllable timing other than the simple segment duration plays an important role in the identification of the durational characteristics in these phonemes by the native Japanese.