Development of Japanese read-word database for non-native speakers of Japanese

Abstract

A Japanese read-word database was developed for 343 Japanese words spoken by 129 non-native speakers of Japanese (Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, French, and English speakers) and 18 native speakers of Japanese. The Japanese words had a contrast of segments such as single/geminate stops, normal/lengthened vowels, existence/inexistence of moraic nasal, contracted sound/vowel /i/, and voiced/voiceless consonants that non-native speakers of Japanese frequently mispronounce. The speech files of the Japanese words and phoneme labels for a part of the speech files were registered in the database. The database will contribute to scientific research on characteristics of Japanese speech by non-native speakers. It will also contribute to develop a computer aided learning system of Japanese speech for non-native speakers.