Effects of first language processes and representations on second language perception: The case of vowel epenthesis by Japanese speakers

Abstract

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:

Japanese speakers are known to perceive “illusory vowels” within consonant clusters illicit in their language. The present study examines how this perceptual vowel epenthesis is affected by first language (L1) processes (restoration of vowels devoiced through Japanese high vowel devoicing), L1 representations (loanword representations in Japanese speakers’ lexicons), and proficiency in English.

Design/methodology/approach:

The participants judged the presence or absence of a mora (e.g., ム /mu/) in an auditorily presented English word (e.g., homesick). The 40 test items contained a heterosyllabic consonant cluster with four different voicing patterns to examine whether the vowel restoration process is related to vowel epenthesis. Twenty of the test items are frequently used as loanwords in Japanese, meaning that they are stored in the L1 lexicon with a vowel inserted inside the consonant cluster (e.g., /hoomusikku/). The other 20 are low-frequency items that are virtually nonwords for the non-native participants.

Data and analysis:

The vowel epenthesis rates and reaction times (RTs) were obtained from 14 introductory learners, 15 intermediate learners, and 19 native speakers.

Findings/conclusions:

The results show the main effects of Voice, Loanword Representation, and Proficiency, as well as the interaction among the three factors. Negative correlations between vowel epenthesis rates and RTs were also observed for the learners. The results indicate differential effects of vowel restoration and loanwords on perceptual epenthesis by learners of different proficiency levels.

Originality:

The present study was one of the first attempts to test the relation between proficiency and perceptual vowel epenthesis using real English words.

Significance/implications:

The findings demonstrate the robustness of L1 processes and representations in second language perception while substantiating the existing argument for early vowel epenthesis. They also raise questions regarding the effects of training and the role of native speaker input.

Keywords

Perceptual vowel epenthesis phonotactics high vowel devoicing proficiency

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amano

Kondo

(Eds.) (2000). NTT database series: Nihongo no goi-tokusei (Lexical properties of Japanese), Vol. 7: Frequency. Tokyo: Sanseido.

Best

C. T.

Tyler

M. D.

(2007). Nonnative and second-language speech perception. In Bohn

O.-S.

Munro

M. J.

(Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 13–34). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Bradlow

A. R.

Akahane-Yamada

Pisoni

D. B.

Tohkura

(1999). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: Long-term retention of learning in perception and production. Perception & Psychophysics, 61, 977–985.

Broselow

Kang

(2013). Phonology and speech. In Herschensohn

Young-Scholten

(Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 529–553). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Colomé

(2001). Lexical activation in bilinguals’ speech production: Language-specific or language-independent? Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 721–736.

Coltheart

(1981). The MRC Psycholinguistic Database. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33A, 497–505.

Cronbach

L. J.

(1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.

Dupoux

Kakehi

Hirose

Pallier

Mehler

(1999). Epenthetic vowels in Japanese: A perceptual illusion? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 1568–1578.

Dupoux

Pallier

Kakehi

Mehler

(2001). New evidence for prelexical phonological processing in word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 5, 491–505.

10.

Dupoux

Parlato

Frota

Hirose

Peperkamp

(2011).Where do illusory vowels come from? Journal of Memory and Language, 64, 199–210.

11.

Flege

J. E.

Liu

(2001). The effect of experience on adults’ acquisition of a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 527–552.

12.

Flege

J. E.

MacKay

I. R. A.

(2004). Perceiving vowels in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 1–34.

13.

Flege

J. E.

Takagi

Mann

(1996). Lexical familiarity and English-language experience affect Japanese adults’ perception of /ɹ/ and /l/. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99, 1161–1173.

14.

Foucart

Frenck-Mestre

(2013). Language processing. In Herschensohn

Young-Scholten

(Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 394–416). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

15.

Guion

S. G.

Flege

J. E.

Akahane-Yamada

Pruitt

J. C.

(2000). An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: The case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107, 2711–2724.

16.

Guion

S. G.

Pederson

(2007). Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning. In Bohn

O.-S.

Munro

M. J.

(Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 57–77). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

17.

Jared

Kroll

J.F.

(2001). Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 2–31.

18.

Kitahara

(1996). Nihongo-ni okeru musee-ka onsetsu to pitchi-akusento no jitsugen nituite (Devoiced syllables and the realization of the accent in Japanese). Gengo-gaku Kenkyu (Linguistic Research), 15, 1–17.

19.

Kondo

(1994). Is vowel devoicing part of the vowel weakening process? In Proceedings of the Edinburgh Linguistics Department conference ’94 (pp. 55–62). Edinburgh, UK.

20.

Kondo

(2005). Syllable structure and its acoustic effects on vowels in devoicing environments. In van de Weijer

Najo

Nishhara

(Eds.), Studies in generative grammar: Voicing in Japanese (pp. 229–245). Berlin, Germany/New York, NY: Walter De Gruyter.

21.

Kubozono

(1999). Nihongo-no onsei (Japanese phonetics). Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami Shoten.

22.

Kučera

Francis

W. N.

(1967). Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.

23.

MacKain

K. S.

Best

C. T.

Strange

(1981). Categorical perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2, 369–390.

24.

Maekawa

(1989). Boin-no museeka (Vowel devoicing). In Sugito

(Ed.), Kooza nihongo to nihongo-kyooiku (Lectures on Japanese and Japanese language teaching), vol. 2 (pp. 394–416). Tokyo, Japan: Meiji-shoin.

25.

Matthews

(2006). Filtered input and obscured full access in phonological acquisition. Second Language, 5, 29–56.

26.

Matthews

Brown

(2004). When intake exceeds input: Language specific perceptual illusions induced by L1 prosodic constraints. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8, 5–27.

27.

Munro

M. J.

Bohn

O.-S.

(2007). The study of second language speech learning: A brief overview. In Bohn

O.-S.

Munro

M. J.

(Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 3–11). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

28.

Nomura

Norris

Ishikawa

(2012). The roles of voice and familiarity in perceptual vowel insertion by Japanese learners of English. Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Japan 2012 Spring Meeting (pp. 617–620). Yokohama, Japan.

29.

Sereno

J. A.

Wang

(2007). Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language. In Bohn

O.-S.

Munro

M. J.

(Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honor of James Emil Flege (pp. 239–258). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

30.

Sugito

(1982). Nihongo-akusento-no kenkyuu (Study of Japanese accent). Tokyo, Japan: Sanseido.

31.

Yoshida

(2009). Eigo pureisumento-tesuto bunseki: Gengo-tesuto no kanten kara (Analyzing English placement tests: From the perspectives of language testing). Osaka-Keidai Ronshu, 60, 93–103.