Asymmetrical interpretation of English liquid consonants by Japanese speakers

Abstract

Japanese speakers have difficulty in differentiating English /l/ and /r/ because they are not contrastive. Actually, variations of both /l/ and /r/ occur in Japanese speech. The most common realization of Japanese /r/ is alveolar tap [ɾ] and all variants of both /l/ and /r/ are considered as allophones of /r/. Previously, it was found that Japanese speakers have more problems with /l/ than with /r/ in their English production. So, this study investigates why these differences occur. Analysis of Japanese speakers’ mimicry speech of (a) American English and (b) English accented Japanese suggested that Japanese speakers are aware of acoustic and articulatory features of English approximant [ɹ]. Japanese speakers overused approximant [ɹ] and r-colored vowels in their mimicries of both (a) and (b). Further articulatory analysis of Japanese and English consonants showed that the English approximant [ɹ] is quite distinct from Japanese consonants, all of which lack lip rounding. The results of these studies suggest that Japanese speakers may not be able to recognize English /l/ and /r/ as separate phonemes, but that they can hear the approximant [ɹ] as it forms a new sound category, whereas they interpret /l/ as /r/.