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A Communicative Approach and Dialect Exposure Enhance Pitch Accent Awareness by Learners of Japanese

Authors: Vance Schaefer (University of Mississippi) , Isabelle Darcy (Indiana University)

Abstract

Japanese pronunciation is deceptively simple. Vowels are limited to five, and consonants generally pose little difficulty for L1 English speakers except for a few novel sounds such as /tsɯ/ or [ɾ]. Thus, the L1 English speaker commonly comes away with the impression that Japanese pronunciation is quite simple. Yet, there are subtle differences such as the /t/ being less aspirated in Japanese than its English counterpart or Japanese featuring /ɯ/ rather than /u/. Additionally, words in Japanese are distinguished by their pitch-accent pattern.

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How to Cite: Schaefer, V. & Darcy, I. (2014) “A Communicative Approach and Dialect Exposure Enhance Pitch Accent Awareness by Learners of Japanese”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings. 6(1).