Japanese speakers learning r and l
Encyclopedia
Japanese
possesses one liquid consonant
, a flap that varies between lateral
[ɺ] and central
[ɾ]. English
has two: an alveolar lateral approximant
/l/ and rhotic consonant of varying phonetic properties centered around [ɹ]. Japanese speakers who learn English as a second language later than childhood often have difficulty in hearing and producing /l/ and /r/ accurately.
[ɾ], though there is some variation depending on phonetic context.
/r/ of American English (the dialect Japanese speakers are typically exposed to) is most commonly a postalveolar central approximant
with simultaneous secondary pharyngeal constriction and lip rounding: [ɹ̠ˤʷ], though it may also be a labialized retroflex approximant [ɻʷ]. /l/ involves contact with the alveolar ridge
as well as some raising of the tongue dorsum (velarization), especially when syllable-final.
reports that native speakers of Japanese who have learned English as adults have difficulty perceiving the acoustic differences between English /r/ and /l/, even if the speakers are comfortable with conversational English, have lived in an English-speaking country
for extended periods, and can articulate the two sounds when speaking English.
Japanese speakers are, however, able to perceive the difference between English /r/ and /l/ when these sounds are not mentally processed as speech sounds. found that Japanese speakers could distinguish /r/ and /l/ just as well as native English speakers if the sounds were acoustically manipulated in a way that made them sound less like speech (by removal of all acoustic information except the F3 component).
found that speakers' ability to distinguish between the two sounds depended on where the sound occurred. Word-final /l/ and /r/ with a preceding vowel were distinguished the best, followed by word-initial /r/ and /l/. Those that occurred in initial consonant clusters or between vowels were the most difficult to distinguish accurately.
provide evidence that there is a link between perception
and production to the extent that perceptual learning
generally transferred to improved production. However, there may be little correlation between degrees of learning in perception and production after training in perception, due to the wide range of individual variation in learning strategies.
conducted a longitudinal study that examined the perception and production of English /l/, /r/, and /w/ by adults and children who were native speakers of Japanese but living in the United States. Over time, the children improved more on English /r/ than English /l/.
Similarly, found that Japanese speakers who received training in distinguishing English sounds improved more on /r/ than on /l/. They suggest that English /l/ is perceived as more similar to Japanese /ɺ/ than English /r/ is, and hence it is harder for Japanese speakers to distinguish /ɾ/ from /l/ than /ɺ/ from /r/.
found differences between the second and third formants in /r/ and /l/ of a native Japanese speaker and a native English speaker. The results showed that the Japanese speaker had a hard time producing an English-like third formant, especially that which is required to produce an /l/.
found that monolingual Japanese speakers in Japan were able to increase their ability to distinguish between /l/ and /r/ after a 3 week training period, which involved hearing minimal pairs (such as 'rock' and 'lock') produced by five speakers, and being asked to identify which word was which. Feedback was provided during training, and participants had to listen to the minimal pairs until the correct answer was given. Participants performed significantly better immediately after the 3-week training, and retained some improvements when retested after 3 months and after 6 months (although there was a decrease in recognition ability at the 6 month test). Reaction time decreased during the training period as the accuracy went up. Participants were able to "generalize" their learning somewhat: when tested they could distinguish between new /l/ and /r/ minimal pairs, but performed better when the pairs were said by one of the 5 speakers they had heard before than a new speaker.
also found that subjects who were trained by listening to multiple speakers' production of /r/ and /l/ in only a few phonetic environments improved more than subjects who were trained with a single talker using wider range of phonetic environments.
argue that it's possible to train Japanese adults to distinguish speech sounds they found difficult to differentiate at first. They found that speech training results in outcomes indicating a real change in the perception of the sounds as speech, rather than simply in auditory perception.
However, it is not clear whether adult learners can ever fully overcome their difficulties with /r/ and /l/. found that even Japanese speakers who have lived 12 or more years in the United States have more trouble identifying /r/ and /l/ than native English speakers do.
† Not minimal pairs of words distinguishing only /r/ and /l/ in non-rhotic varieties of English.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
possesses one liquid consonant
Liquid consonant
In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
, a flap that varies between lateral
Lateral consonant
A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....
[ɺ] and central
Central consonant
A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center....
[ɾ]. English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
has two: an alveolar lateral approximant
Alveolar lateral approximant
The alveolar lateral approximant, also known as clear l, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.As a...
/l/ and rhotic consonant of varying phonetic properties centered around [ɹ]. Japanese speakers who learn English as a second language later than childhood often have difficulty in hearing and producing /l/ and /r/ accurately.
Phonetic differences
The Japanese liquid is most often realized as an alveolar tapAlveolar tap
The alveolar flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar flaps is .-Definition:...
[ɾ], though there is some variation depending on phonetic context.
/r/ of American English (the dialect Japanese speakers are typically exposed to) is most commonly a postalveolar central approximant
Approximant consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...
with simultaneous secondary pharyngeal constriction and lip rounding: [ɹ̠ˤʷ], though it may also be a labialized retroflex approximant [ɻʷ]. /l/ involves contact with the alveolar ridge
Alveolar ridge
An alveolar ridge is one of the two jaw ridges either on the roof of the mouth between the upper teeth and the hard palate or on the bottom of the mouth behind the lower teeth. The alveolar ridges contain the sockets of the teeth....
as well as some raising of the tongue dorsum (velarization), especially when syllable-final.
Perception
Evidence from and suggest that Japanese speakers perceive English /r/ as somewhat like the compressed-lip velar approximant /w͍/ and other studies have shown speakers to hear it more as an ill-formed /ɺ/.reports that native speakers of Japanese who have learned English as adults have difficulty perceiving the acoustic differences between English /r/ and /l/, even if the speakers are comfortable with conversational English, have lived in an English-speaking country
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
for extended periods, and can articulate the two sounds when speaking English.
Japanese speakers are, however, able to perceive the difference between English /r/ and /l/ when these sounds are not mentally processed as speech sounds. found that Japanese speakers could distinguish /r/ and /l/ just as well as native English speakers if the sounds were acoustically manipulated in a way that made them sound less like speech (by removal of all acoustic information except the F3 component).
found that speakers' ability to distinguish between the two sounds depended on where the sound occurred. Word-final /l/ and /r/ with a preceding vowel were distinguished the best, followed by word-initial /r/ and /l/. Those that occurred in initial consonant clusters or between vowels were the most difficult to distinguish accurately.
provide evidence that there is a link between perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
and production to the extent that perceptual learning
Perceptual learning
The term perceptual learning refers to the process of long lasting improvement in performing perceptual tasks as a function of experienceand practice . According to Eleanor Gibson , it refers to the experience-induced changes in the way information is extracted following sensory experience...
generally transferred to improved production. However, there may be little correlation between degrees of learning in perception and production after training in perception, due to the wide range of individual variation in learning strategies.
Production
reports that Japanese speakers who are unable to hear the difference between /r/ and /l/ may still learn to produce the difference, presumably through articulatory training in which they learn the correct places and manners of articulation required for the production of the two sounds. In this sense, they learn to produce /r/ and /l/ in much the same way a deaf person would. Although they have only a single acoustic image corresponding to a single phoneme intermediary between /r/ and /l/, they are able to know they are producing the correct sound based on the tactile sensations of the speech articulators (i.e. tongue, alveolar ridge, etc.) coming into contact with each other without any auditory feedback or confirmation that they are indeed producing the sound correctly.Variations in acquisition
There is some indication that Japanese speakers tend to improve more on the perception and production of /r/ than /l/.conducted a longitudinal study that examined the perception and production of English /l/, /r/, and /w/ by adults and children who were native speakers of Japanese but living in the United States. Over time, the children improved more on English /r/ than English /l/.
Similarly, found that Japanese speakers who received training in distinguishing English sounds improved more on /r/ than on /l/. They suggest that English /l/ is perceived as more similar to Japanese /ɺ/ than English /r/ is, and hence it is harder for Japanese speakers to distinguish /ɾ/ from /l/ than /ɺ/ from /r/.
found differences between the second and third formants in /r/ and /l/ of a native Japanese speaker and a native English speaker. The results showed that the Japanese speaker had a hard time producing an English-like third formant, especially that which is required to produce an /l/.
Effects of training
There have been a number of experiments in training Japanese subjects to improve their perception of /r/ and /l/.found that monolingual Japanese speakers in Japan were able to increase their ability to distinguish between /l/ and /r/ after a 3 week training period, which involved hearing minimal pairs (such as 'rock' and 'lock') produced by five speakers, and being asked to identify which word was which. Feedback was provided during training, and participants had to listen to the minimal pairs until the correct answer was given. Participants performed significantly better immediately after the 3-week training, and retained some improvements when retested after 3 months and after 6 months (although there was a decrease in recognition ability at the 6 month test). Reaction time decreased during the training period as the accuracy went up. Participants were able to "generalize" their learning somewhat: when tested they could distinguish between new /l/ and /r/ minimal pairs, but performed better when the pairs were said by one of the 5 speakers they had heard before than a new speaker.
also found that subjects who were trained by listening to multiple speakers' production of /r/ and /l/ in only a few phonetic environments improved more than subjects who were trained with a single talker using wider range of phonetic environments.
argue that it's possible to train Japanese adults to distinguish speech sounds they found difficult to differentiate at first. They found that speech training results in outcomes indicating a real change in the perception of the sounds as speech, rather than simply in auditory perception.
However, it is not clear whether adult learners can ever fully overcome their difficulties with /r/ and /l/. found that even Japanese speakers who have lived 12 or more years in the United States have more trouble identifying /r/ and /l/ than native English speakers do.
Examples
There are numerous minimal pairs of words distinguishing only /r/ and /l/. For their study, used:- Right/Light
- Red/Led
- Road/Load
- Crime/Climb
- Bread/Bled
- Froze/Flows
- Arrive/Alive
- Correct/Collect
- Correction/Collection
- Fire/File †
- More/Mole †
† Not minimal pairs of words distinguishing only /r/ and /l/ in non-rhotic varieties of English.
See also
- English phonologyEnglish phonologyEnglish phonology is the study of the sound system of the English language. Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect...
- EngrishEngrishrefers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...
- LallationLallationA Lallation is an imperfect enunciation of the letter "R", in which it sounds like "L", as frequently found in infantile speech.The speech pattern has been particularly associated with the use of the English language by Chinese people and Japanese people. The use of lallation has thus been a common...
- Non-native pronunciations of EnglishNon-native pronunciations of EnglishNon-native pronunciations of English result from the common linguistic phenomenon in which non-native users of any language tend to carry the intonation, phonological processes and pronunciation rules from their mother tongue into their English speech...