How the perceptual assimilation of English vowels by native Japanese speakers affects their perception and production of English vowels

本研究的目的是探讨以日语为母语的人对英语元音的辨别能力是否可以根据感知同化模型（=PAM）（Best 1995）的观点来预测。以日语为母语者为被试，分别进行了辨别实验、认同实验、知觉同化实验和产出实验。英语母语者作为控制组参与了辨别和识别实验，实验结果并不一定支持PAM的观点，但结果表明日语母语者对英语元音的感知受到母语元音类别的影响。/ae/在感知上经常被同化为日语的低元音/a/，并且被误认为是/a/和//，这两个元音在感知上都被同化为日语的低元音/a/，但是当软腭塞音在前时，/ae/在感知上被同化为/ja/，这显然使日语受试者更容易区分 ...更多信息 在这个辅音上下文中，/ae/来自/a/或//。对/ae/的感知也受到以下辅音的强烈影响：当/n/跟随时，它在感知上被同化为/ea/，因为共振峰在/CVn/上下文中的/ae/中弯曲，这显然有助于更好地区分/a/和/a/或/a/。以下辅音的发音方式影响日语使用者对英语元音的感知和产生：当鼻音（/n/）或液体（/l/）跟随时，正确识别和辨别的百分比低于当塞音（/t/或/d/）跟随时。当/l/跟在/i/后面时，/i/的正确识别率特别低，并且日语使用者在这种辅音背景下产生的/i/标记的可理解性也很低。这可能是因为日语中没有与元音后/l/对应的音素。这可能是一个迹象表明，容易感知和生产周围的辅音可以影响感知和生产的非母语元音。少

This study is to see if discriminability of English vowels by native Japanese speakers can be predicted based on what Perceptual Assimilation Model (=PAM) (Best 1995) states. Native Japanese speakers served as subjects in the following four experiments ; discrimination experiment identification experiment, perceptual assimilation experiment, production experiment. Native English speakers participated as the control group in the discrimination and identification experiments.The results of the series of experiments do not necessarily support what PAM states, but the results indicate Japanese speakers' perception of English vowels is affected by their L1 vowel categories. /ae/ is often perceptually assimilated to Japanese low vowel /a/, and is misidentified with /a/ and /∧/, which are both perceptually assimilated to the Japanese low vowel /a/, but when a velar stop precedes, /ae/ is perceptually assimilated to /ja/, which apparently makes it easier for Japanese subjects to differentiate … More /ae/ from /a/ or /∧/ in this consonantal context. The perception of /ae/ is also strongly affected by the following consonant: when /n/ follows, it is perceptually assimilated to /ea/ because formants bend in /ae/ in /CVn/ contexts, which apparently facilitates better discrimination of /a/ from /a/ or /∧/. The manner of articulation of the following consonant influences Japanese speakers' perception and production of English vowels: percent correct identification and discrimination are lower when a nasal (/n/) or a liquid (/l/) follows than when a stop (/t/ or /d/). Percent correct identification of /i/ is especially low when /l/ follows, and the intelligibility of the /i/ tokens produced by Japanese speakers is also low in this consonantal context. This is probably because there is no equivalent phone to the postvocalic /l/ in Japanese. This may be an indication that the ease to perceive and produce surrounding consonants can influence the perception and production of non-native vowels. Less