Perception of place‐of‐articulation contrasts in English word‐final consonants by Japanese adult second language learners.

Abstract

English word‐final consonants are realized differently in connected speech from the same word‐final consonants produced in isolation because of coarticulation with the following segment. Identifying word‐final stops is challenging for Japanese listeners because of the different phonotactic and syllable structures of their L1. This study investigated the perception by Japanese L2 learners and native English controls of word‐final stops /p‐t‐k/, /b‐d‐g/, and /m‐n‐ŋ/ when followed by a word‐initial /p/, /t/, or /k/ in sentences spoken in clear and in fast (casual) speech. Stimuli were minimal triplets differing in place of articulation (e.g., sip, sit, and sick), followed by positively, tauntingly, or cautiously. Participants listened to sentences, e.g., He said the word sit positively (or tauntingly, or cautiously), and identified the target words by choosing one of three written options. Japanese listeners had difficulty identifying English word‐final oral stops in fast speech (26% errors), whereas they did better when the oral stops were released in clear speech (6% errors). Their difficulty identifying word‐final nasals in both conditions (23% errors in clear, 34% errors in fast) reflects a language‐specific perceptual pattern affected by the phonological rules of their L1.