LINGUIST List 8.1660

Wed Nov 19 1997

Disc: Japanese English Pronunciation

Editor for this issue: Elaine Halleck <elainelinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. MARIE MELENCA, Japanese English Pronunciation

 Dear linguists:

 I teach pronunciation to adult students of various language
 backgrounds at a university in Montreal, and I am also
 currently preparing to research the pronunciation of
 Japanese speakers of English. I noticed that when a Japanese
 student speaks English, s/he often inserts a glottal stop or
 some temporal pause between C(C)VC to VC(C) (in either word
 or syllable boundaries, such as "got up", "biology"). I am
 not sure yet exactly what is happening. My hunch is that a
 phonological transfer from Japanese is occurring, but I do
 not have much information about Japanese linguistics,
 especially phonetics and phonology. Although I have found an
 introduction to Japanese linguistics textbook (by Natusuko
 Tsujimura), I am unable to come up with any material that
 looks at linking or the lack of it in the production of either
 Japanese or English by the Japanese. I also wonder if glides
 exist in Japanese, whether glottals are inserted in front of
 certain vowels, or what other influences there may be. Have
 you come across any literature and/or research which looks
 at these areas of the Japanese language? Is there anything
 out there that looks at how it affects the speech of the
 Japanese in both their native and foreign tongues?
 Please send your suggestions to me directly at the below
 mentioned address.

 I will, of course, be happy to give a summary of my findings
 to anyone interested; I will notify the list when that time
 comes.

 Many thanks,

 _/| _ /| Marie Melenca
 \ o.O ' Concordia University
 =( )=~ Applied Linguistics
 ___ McGill University
 U ESL-Pronunciation Specialist
 Montreal (Quebec)
 fax: (514) 848 7904
 e-mail: <inimmusicb.mcgill.ca>