L1 English Vocalic Transfer in L2 Japanese
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L1 ENGLISH VOCALIC TRANSFER IN L2 JAPANESE by KENNETH JEFFREY KNIGHT (Under the Direction of Don R. McCreary) ABSTRACT This study looks at four factors that cause transfer errors in the duration and quality of vowel sounds in Japanese as spoken by native English speaking learners. These factors are: 1) words contain a contrastive long vowel, 2) words contain vowels in hiatal position, 3) words are English loanwords, and 4) words are written in Romanization. 34 students at the University of Georgia completed elicited imitation and reading aloud tasks. Results show that roughly 5% of all responses contained vocalic errors. Error rates were highest for minimal pairs that contrast only in vowel length. Similarities in orthography, word origin, and differences in phonological rules were shown to be significant factors in L2 Japanese vowel pronunciation error. A brief survey of the most widely used Japanese textbooks in the US reveals a lack of explicit instruction in vowel length contrasts and Japanese loanword adaptation. Increased explicit instruction in these areas as well as limited use of Romanization may greatly reduce the risk of L2 Japanese vowel pronunciation error. INDEX WORDS: Transfer; Interference; Japanese as a Foreign Language; English; Vowel; Duration; Second Language Acquisition L1 ENGLISH VOCALIC TRANSFER IN L2 JAPANESE by KENNETH JEFFREY KNIGHT B.A., Temple University, 1998 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2013 © 2013 Kenneth Jeffrey Knight All Rights Reserved L1 ENGLISH VOCALIC TRANSFER IN L2 JAPANESE by KENNETH JEFFREY KNIGHT Major Professor: Don R. McCreary Committee: Jonathan Evans Keith Langston Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2013 DEDICATION I dedicate this work to the memory of my Father, Kenneth David Knight, to whom I promised its conclusion. May his soul find eternal peace and joy! iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work owes its existence to Dr. Don McCreary, who shaped my studies from the moment I entered the Linguistics program at the University of Georgia until the moment I sent him my final version of this dissertation. I am sorely and eternally indebted to him for all of his thoughts, comments and questions. His boundless knowledge of SLA and Japanese brightened the path during this process. Dr. Keith Langston also offered countless hours poring over my work and sending me invaluable suggestions related to phonology, SLA and content. In addition, Dr. Jonathan Evans selflessly gave of his time and wisdom in all of the exam preparation and offered wonderful advice throughout, even into the defense. Dr. Gary Baker’s knowledge of phonetics and phonology as well as his keen interest in Japanese gave solidity to many of the early ideas expressed in pursuit of the perfect topic. I am forever grateful for all of the time and effort these men have offered me and my family in working to complete this life-changing work. I cannot begin to describe the sacrifices my family has made during this endeavor. I am grateful to my wife, Hitomi, and my son, Andy, as well as my mother, Patricia, who all gave deeply so that this work may be completed. I owe you all a great deal and will continue to repay you as long as I live. v PREFACE Japan and the United States each display great dialectal diversity. However, the media and education systems of both countries have played a large role in creating standard dialects respective to each country that are immediately understood and generally regarded as the primary dialect of business and formal interaction by the majority of the population and especially younger generations. In Japan this dialect is known as 共通語 (kyoutsuugo, 'common language'). This is the variety normally taught to foreign learners of Japanese both inside and outside of Japan. Modern Standard Japanese (SJ) is based on the speaking style of educated, middle-class residents of Tokyo. (Shibatani 1990:186) Vance refers to a relatively standard dialect of American English used in the United States (SAE) as “United States newscaster English.” (2008:XVIII) These are the varieties of Japanese and English that are used in this study and are referred to merely as “Japanese” and “English.” Japanese Romanization, when necessary, is given in the Hepburn system.1 1 See Vance 2008a for specific arguments against using the kunrei system with loanwords. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose of This Study ............................................................................................................. 1 Expected Results ..................................................................................................................... 2 Japanese and English Vowel Sounds ...................................................................................... 3 Japanese Vowels in Hiatus ...................................................................................................... 4 Japanese Vowel Duration ........................................................................................................ 8 Japanese Orthography ........................................................................................................... 10 Loanwords in Japanese ..........................................................................................................11 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 14 Similarity and Transfer ......................................................................................................... 14 Vowel Duration ..................................................................................................................... 17 L2 Vowel Quality .................................................................................................................. 24 vii L2 Japanese Transfer............................................................................................................. 25 Romanization ........................................................................................................................ 26 Studies on Loanword Adaptation .......................................................................................... 28 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 31 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................ 31 Procedure 1: Elicited Imitation Tasks ................................................................................... 32 Elicited Imitation Tasks: Tokens ........................................................................................... 33 Elicited Imitation Tasks: Target Words ................................................................................. 34 Elicited Imitation with Native Word Targets (n=34) ............................................................ 34 Elicited Imitation with English Loanword Targets (n=13) ................................................... 35 Procedure 2: Reading Aloud Tasks ....................................................................................... 37 Reading Aloud Task: Reading Native Japanese Target Words in Kana and in Roman Letters (n=19) .................................................................................................................................... 39 Reading Aloud Task: Reading English Loanwords in Kana and Roman Letters (n=5) ....... 40 Subjects ................................................................................................................................. 41 Procedure 3: Native Speaker Acceptability Judgment .......................................................... 42 NS Acceptability Judgment Task .......................................................................................... 43 Procedure Used in NS Ratings .............................................................................................. 44 4. RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 47 Native Speaker Ratings ......................................................................................................... 48 viii NS Ratings of Elicited Imitation Task Results ...................................................................... 48 NS Ratings of Reading Aloud Task Results.......................................................................... 55 Combined NS Rating Results ............................................................................................... 63 5. DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................