The relation between L2 perception and L1 phonology in Japanese loanwords

Abstract

This chapter examines how geminates in words from a donor language are borrowed by a recipient language that already has a geminate/singleton contrast. It analyses the loanword adaptation of Italian geminates in Japanese and its relationship to Japanese speakers’ perception of geminates. A corpus study and a perception experiment show that both phonological and phonetic factors affect adaptation patterns. Although Japanese speakers are essentially capable of perceiving geminates in Italian, their adaptation of geminates in actual loanwords is affected by the class of the consonant and the phonological environments in which it appears. Specifically, geminate consonants are more likely to be perceived as geminates by native Japanese listeners the further they appear towards the end of the source words.