Production and perception of voice onset time cues in spoken Japanese and Taiwan Mandarin.

Abstract

This study investigates (1) VOT length of Japanese and Taiwan Mandarin (TM) stops in word-initial and word-medial positions of disyllabic words and (2) VOT boundary between voiceless and voiced stops in word-initial and word-medial positions of Japanese disyllabic words perceived by TM listeners. Japanese has voiceless and voiced distinction of stops, while Mandarin has aspirated and unaspirated distinction of stops. This discrepancy makes it hard for TM listeners to perceive Japanese stops correctly. In addition, based on my observation, stops in word-medial position seem to be more difficult for them to hear. In the first part of the study, an acoustic analysis is conducted to investigate the difference in VOT length of stops of the two languages. Perception experiments are conducted to examine the relationship between VOT boundary and the positions of stops in words. Groups of TM listeners at different Japanese proficiency levels participate in the experiments in order to test the effect of second language acquisition.