A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus

Kakeru Yazawa; Yumi Ozaki; Greg Short; Mariko Kondo; Yoshinori Sagisaka

doi:10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus

Kakeru Yazawa, Yumi Ozaki, Greg Short, Mariko Kondo, Yoshinori Sagisaka

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigated the production of English unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers based on the J-AESOP corpus. Four acoustic features associated with unstressed vowels in English were examined: duration, intensity, fundamental frequency and vowel quality. Comparative analysis with native English speakers' production revealed that the Japanese speakers achieved good control of all the acoustic features except vowel quality, supporting the results of previous studies. Their attainment of nearnative control of duration, intensity and fundamental frequency can be attributed to positive L1 transfer from Japanese. As for vowel quality, the present study showed that the quality of the Japanese speakers' unstressed vowels was more peripheral than that of the native English speakers' because of the difficulty of L2 phoneme acquisition and the influence of orthography.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	96-100
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Print)	9781467382793
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872
Publication status	Published - 2015 Dec 14
Event	18th Annual International Conference Oriental COCOSDA, O-COCOSDA 2015 - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, CASLRE 2015 - Shanghai, China Duration: 2015 Oct 28 → 2015 Oct 30

Other

Other	18th Annual International Conference Oriental COCOSDA, O-COCOSDA 2015 - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, CASLRE 2015
Country/Territory	China
City	Shanghai
Period	15/10/28 → 15/10/30

Keywords

J-AESOP corpus
L1 transfer
L2 acquisition
orthography
unstressed vowel

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Linguistics and Language
Computer Science Applications
Software
Language and Linguistics

Access to Document

10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

Cite this

Yazawa, K., Ozaki, Y., Short, G., Kondo, M., & Sagisaka, Y. (2015). A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus. In 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings (pp. 96-100). [7357872] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus. / Yazawa, Kakeru; Ozaki, Yumi; Short, Greg et al.

2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2015. p. 96-100 7357872.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Yazawa, K, Ozaki, Y, Short, G, Kondo, M & Sagisaka, Y 2015, A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus. in 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings., 7357872, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 96-100, 18th Annual International Conference Oriental COCOSDA, O-COCOSDA 2015 - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, CASLRE 2015, Shanghai, China, 15/10/28. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

Yazawa K, Ozaki Y, Short G, Kondo M, Sagisaka Y. A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus. In 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2015. p. 96-100. 7357872 doi: 10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

Yazawa, Kakeru ; Ozaki, Yumi ; Short, Greg et al. / A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus. 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2015. pp. 96-100

@inproceedings{a1a6514eb5014de1a95b08f36e7a8788,

title = "A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus",

abstract = "This study investigated the production of English unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers based on the J-AESOP corpus. Four acoustic features associated with unstressed vowels in English were examined: duration, intensity, fundamental frequency and vowel quality. Comparative analysis with native English speakers' production revealed that the Japanese speakers achieved good control of all the acoustic features except vowel quality, supporting the results of previous studies. Their attainment of nearnative control of duration, intensity and fundamental frequency can be attributed to positive L1 transfer from Japanese. As for vowel quality, the present study showed that the quality of the Japanese speakers' unstressed vowels was more peripheral than that of the native English speakers' because of the difficulty of L2 phoneme acquisition and the influence of orthography.",

keywords = "J-AESOP corpus, L1 transfer, L2 acquisition, orthography, unstressed vowel",

author = "Kakeru Yazawa and Yumi Ozaki and Greg Short and Mariko Kondo and Yoshinori Sagisaka",

year = "2015",

month = dec,

day = "14",

doi = "10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781467382793",

pages = "96--100",

booktitle = "2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",

note = "18th Annual International Conference Oriental COCOSDA, O-COCOSDA 2015 - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, CASLRE 2015 ; Conference date: 28-10-2015 Through 30-10-2015",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus

AU - Yazawa, Kakeru

AU - Ozaki, Yumi

AU - Short, Greg

AU - Kondo, Mariko

AU - Sagisaka, Yoshinori

PY - 2015/12/14

Y1 - 2015/12/14

N2 - This study investigated the production of English unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers based on the J-AESOP corpus. Four acoustic features associated with unstressed vowels in English were examined: duration, intensity, fundamental frequency and vowel quality. Comparative analysis with native English speakers' production revealed that the Japanese speakers achieved good control of all the acoustic features except vowel quality, supporting the results of previous studies. Their attainment of nearnative control of duration, intensity and fundamental frequency can be attributed to positive L1 transfer from Japanese. As for vowel quality, the present study showed that the quality of the Japanese speakers' unstressed vowels was more peripheral than that of the native English speakers' because of the difficulty of L2 phoneme acquisition and the influence of orthography.

AB - This study investigated the production of English unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers based on the J-AESOP corpus. Four acoustic features associated with unstressed vowels in English were examined: duration, intensity, fundamental frequency and vowel quality. Comparative analysis with native English speakers' production revealed that the Japanese speakers achieved good control of all the acoustic features except vowel quality, supporting the results of previous studies. Their attainment of nearnative control of duration, intensity and fundamental frequency can be attributed to positive L1 transfer from Japanese. As for vowel quality, the present study showed that the quality of the Japanese speakers' unstressed vowels was more peripheral than that of the native English speakers' because of the difficulty of L2 phoneme acquisition and the influence of orthography.

KW - J-AESOP corpus

KW - L1 transfer

KW - L2 acquisition

KW - orthography

KW - unstressed vowel

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962828483&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84962828483&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

DO - 10.1109/ICSDA.2015.7357872

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84962828483

SN - 9781467382793

SP - 96

EP - 100

BT - 2015 International Conference Oriental COCOSDA - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, O-COCOSDA/CASLRE 2015 - Proceedings

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

T2 - 18th Annual International Conference Oriental COCOSDA, O-COCOSDA 2015 - Held jointly with 2015 Conference on Asian Spoken Language Research and Evaluation, CASLRE 2015

Y2 - 28 October 2015 through 30 October 2015

ER -

A study of the production of unstressed vowels by Japanese speakers of English using the J-AESOP corpus

Abstract

Other

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this