Japanese Utterances Research Articles

Appropriate Syllable Length and its Fixation of Consecutive CV Syllables－3- Syllable and 4-Syllable Words May as be the Basis for Mastering Special Syllable－

<p>正確、流利的使用日語乃是所有外國人學習日語的目標。然而，以中文為母語的日語學習者（以下簡稱CNJ）對於五十音無法熟記等問題亦時有所聞。此問題恐與CNJ發話時日語的CV音節過長有關。該如何有效解決此問題乃當務之急。因此，本研究是以6名的CNJ與3名東京腔的日語母語者(以下簡稱JN)為對象，運用日語音聲的特徵以輕聲無義詞來指導，加以確認CNJ是否可利用連續的短CV音節發出日語適當的音節長。通過本實驗研究，比較CNJ（指導前後）和JN的差異，針對單詞、詞語、短句發話中的3音節和4音節無義詞，分析其是否可正確區分CV音節長度。研究結果顯示，指導前CNJ的3音節與4音節的音節長度分布與JN之間具有顯著差異，且音節的高低傾向與JN的音長伸縮率也呈現出差異性。然而，經筆者指導後，CNJ與JN之間的差異已不復見。換言之，我們認為與JN相近之CV音節長度，如在日語音節長度記憶的時間範圍內，則可視為連續短CV音節的日語發話基礎已確立。由此可見，以連續輕聲音節為主的無義詞為基準，並記住日語連續短CV音節長度，足以產出適當的音節長度，得知通過一連串的指導可盡早學習到日語的正確發音。日語連續短CV音節發話基礎的確立，是為解決CNJ與JN的CV音節長度認知差異的有效方法。另，掌握對立長音節間的語音差異，對日語特殊節拍的學習效果亦具一定成效。</p> <p> </p><p>Accurate and fluent linguistic performance is the goal of language acquisition for foreign learners of Japanese. However, some native Chinese learners (hereinafter referred to as CNJ) complain that they cannot memorize the Japanese syllabary. This is related to the excessively long CV syllables of Japanese produced by CNJ, and prompt resolution of this issue is required.In this research, from the viewpoint of whether it is possible to reproduce the appropriate syllable length by short CV syllables using the meaningless words of 0 tone syllables. As a quasi-experimental study, using the three-syllable and four-syllable test words, including words, phrases, and short sentences by 6 CNJs and 3 native speakers of Tokyo dialect (hereafter referred to as JN) to conduct an experiment.As a result, the syllable length of CNJ (before instruction) for both three-syllable and four-syllable words was significantly more than JN and was also shown in the difference in expansion and contraction rate of syllable length from JN. But after instruction, no significant difference observed, which is close to JN. It shows that the basis of Japanese utterances based on consecutive short CV syllables has already been established.It was confirmed that it is possible to produce an appropriate syllable length by recalling the points of continuous short CV syllables of Japanese, based on meaningless words with continuous o tone syllables. Establishment of the base of utterances by consecutive short CV syllables of Japanese is a standard for resolving discrepancies in CV syllable lengths and grasping the phonetic differences between long syllables. It is also expected to serve as a basis for mastering special syllable.</p> <p> </p>

Time course of effective connectivity associated with perspective taking in utterance comprehension.

This study discusses the effective connectivity in the brain and its time course in realizing perspective taking in verbal communication through electroencephalogram (EEG) associated with the understanding of Japanese utterances. We manipulated perspective taking in a sentence with the Japanese subsidiary verbs -ageru and -kureru, which mean "to give". We measured the EEG during the auditory presentation of the sentences with a multichannel electroencephalograph, and the partial directed coherence and its temporal variations were analyzed using the source localization method to examine causal interactions between nineteen regions of interest in the brain. Three different processing stages were recognized on the basis of the connectivity hubs, direction of information flow, increase or decrease in flow, and temporal variation. We suggest that perspective taking in speech comprehension is realized by interactions between the mentalizing network, mirror neuron network, and executive control network. Furthermore, we found that individual differences in the sociality of typically developing adult speakers were systematically related to effective connectivity. In particular, attention switching was deeply concerned with perspective taking in real time, and the precuneus played a crucial role in implementing individual differences.

The role of comparison in discourse

Abstract This study investigates the meaning and use of the Japanese utterance comparative expressions sore-yori-(mo) ‘than that’ and nani-yori-(mo) ‘than anything’ and considers the role of comparison in discourse. I argue that sore-yori and nani-yori can compare individuals at the semantic (at-issue) level, but they can also compare utterances (speech acts) at the non-at-issue level (= conventional implicature (CI)) (e.g., Grice 1975; Potts 2005; McCready 2010; Sawada 2010; Gutzmann 2011). The utterance comparative sore-yori conventionally implicates that U in sore-yori(U) is more important than the previous utterance, and the utterance comparative nani-yori conventionally implicates that U in nani-yori(U) is more important than any alternative utterance. An interesting feature of the utterance comparatives sore-yori-(mo) and nani-yori-(mo) is that their pragmatic functions are quite flexible. As for sore-yori, in some contexts, it can function as a topic-changing expression, but in other contexts it does not. As for nani-yori, when it occurs discourse-initially, it functions like the expression first of all, but when it occurs discourse-finally, it functions as an additive reinforcing expression. I argue that the pragmatic effects of utterance comparative expressions arise based on the interaction between their scalar meanings and the general pragmatic principles of relevance/Question Under Discussion and manner (e.g., Grice 1975; Roberts 1996). This study demonstrates that in addition to regular comparison and metalinguistic comparison, there is a third type of comparison: utterance comparison, and that the notion of comparison plays an important role in advancing the conversation economically/effectively. Finally, cross-linguistic variations in utterance comparison will also be discussed using English and Korean data.

Calibrating rhythms in L1 Japanese and Japanese accented English

Japanese and Japanese-accented English utterances produced by native Japanese speakers were classified using rhythm spectra automatically derived from the speech signals. Results of a stepwise discriminant function analysis revealed an overall classification rate of 81.9% (chance = 50%) for Japanese and 85.9% for English utterances. Two parameters extracted from the spectra emerged as the strongest predictors: normalized amplitude modulation rate above 4 Hz in the 1,000 Hz octave band frequency and normalized amplitude modulation rate between 3-6 Hz in the 4,000 Hz octave band. These results suggested that native Japanese speakers produce Japanese and English with different patterns of temporal regularities in the amplitude envelope of the speech waveform.

일본어 중도종료형발화의 양면성 연구

일본어 중도종료형발화의 양면성 연구

The Intonation of Focus Utterance in Japanese

<p><em>The study describes the characteristics of phonological intonation on focus utterances in Japanese. The research used quantitative design with two Japanese native teachers as the informants. The Data was gotten through speaking method and a recording technique. In this step, the researcher had a direct conversation with the informants who were guided with the list of conversation, then recorded it. The data were then sorted out using computer software PRAAT and were later analyzed. The results of data analysis show that all intonation contours produced by Japanese informants have the same characteristics, which are the intonation of the utterance focus or the most important part of an utterance rises, while the intonation of another utterance that is not the focus or after the focus falls. In general, the intonation of an utterance has one curve, but the existence of utterance focus can result in the change of intonation. The number of focus in an utterance can cause the emergence of several curves. In order to produce intonation that sounds natural or similar to the native speakers, learners must understand about the intonation contours in Japanese, especially the intonation of the utterance focus.</em></p>

Development and practical evaluation of a Japanese utterance education support system using phonetic segments and fundamental frequencies

Development and practical evaluation of a Japanese utterance education support system using phonetic segments and fundamental frequencies

“Excuse meeee!!”: (Mis)coordination of lexical and paralinguistic prosody in L2 hyperarticulation

The present study investigates how first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers coordinate lexical and paralinguistic prosody (lexically determined pitch accent and utterance-level intonation) in hyperarticulated speech. Modifications of F0 and segmental durations in repeated utterances were analyzed jointly using a novel method, Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA). By testing Japanese and German participants as L1 and as L2 speakers of the respective languages, the task elicited a situation in which L2 speakers had to handle F0 and segmental durations when these prosodic properties mainly carry a paralinguistic function in their L1, but carry a lexical one in their L2 or vice versa. Results show language-dependent and -independent modifications in hyperarticulated speech in both speaker groups. The language-dependent modifications were negatively transferred to the respective L2. The restriction of Japanese lexical pitch accent prevented Japanese participants from phonologically modifying F0 contours in L1 and L2, and German L2 speakers applied the German pitch accent rules in L2 Japanese utterances. Lexical rules outweighed paralinguistic rules in modifying prosody. At the same time, both German and Japanese speakers hyperarticulated the utterances with utterance-final lengthening, larger pitch range and higher peak. Furthermore, we argue that there may be different dominance orders of prosodic properties in Japanese and German according to which prosodic property was more likely to be modified in hyperarticulated speech. L2 speakers were more prone to change a more dominant prosodic property in their L1 to convey a paralinguistic meaning, i.e., segmental durations for Japanese and F0 for German. The findings are particularly noteworthy as the uttered words were highly frequent words of which L2 learners should have had sufficient L2 input before.

The Communication Strategy Used By Japanese Learner at the Basic Level

Students at the basic level in Department Education Japanese of Semarang State University have difficulties in Japanese speaking. They could not produce oral Japanese smoothly. Sometimes they said couple words in Bahasa Indonesia to express their ideas. In communication strategy there is a systematic technique used by foreign language learners to express their ideas when faced with the difficulty of communicating because of the limitations of second language mastery. The findings are the learners already have passed the stage of mastery of simple-level linguistic rules, so they have a tendency to pursue in various ways to make their message acceptable. The characteristic of communication strategy they used are directly translated an utterance literally in the concept of their mother tongue, and use those terminology in their mother tongue and English in Japanese utterance. The reasons that influence the use of these communication strategies are that students' grammar and vocabulary skills are insufficient to communicate in various fields as they are still in the early learning stages.

Durational vowel-coda interaction in spontaneous Japanese utterances

Durational vowel-coda interaction in spontaneous Japanese utterances

日本語発話の発音誤り検出における留学生と日本人学生との対比 : 音声セグメント技術による「じ」と「ち」の弁別を中心として

日本語発話の発音誤り検出における留学生と日本人学生との対比 : 音声セグメント技術による「じ」と「ち」の弁別を中心として

FRASA ADJEKTIVA BAHASA JEPANG: ANALISIS X-BAR

The structure and principles of how to form adjective phrases in Japanese were investigated in this study. This qualitative study used content analysis as the research design and assigned Japanese Textbooks used for Japanese Course as the source of data. Corpus of Japanese utterances obtained from the textbook was selected as the research data, containing sentences, clauses, phrases, and discourses. Data were analyzed using linguistic theories of internal structure of tree diagram using X-bar. The study revealed that the structure of adjective phrases of Japanese served as the boundary sentence and pronoun. In addition, the principle of adjective phrases of Japanese consisted of: (1) adjective+noun, (2) pronoun+adjective, (3) noun+adjective, dan (4) adverb+adjective.

How Effective is Using Lip Movement for Japanese Utterance Training

How Effective is Using Lip Movement for Japanese Utterance Training

Automatic recognition of negative emotion in speech using support vector machine

This paper addresses negative emotion recognition using paralinguistic information in speech for speech dialogue system. Speech conveys not only linguistic information but also paralinguistic and non-linguistic information such as the emotions, attitudes, and intentions. This easily perceivable information plays a key role in a spoken dialog system. However, most of previous speech recognition systems fail to consider this significant information, focusing only on linguistic information, thus hindering the development of more natural speech dialog systems. In order to utilize these significant information for speech dialog systems, this paper focuses on negative emotion recognition from Japanese utterances. 6552-dimensional acoustic features were extracted from 6300 Japanese utterances of 50 people in three emotional state: negative; positive; and neutral. Negative emotion includes anger, sad and dislike. While positive emotion includes favor, joy, and relief. They were classified by SVM and evaluated by a 10-fold cross validation. The experimental result showed the recognition rate of 93.4 % for the classification of negative and positive and 95.0% for the classification of negative and neutral.

感情を表した日本語音声の知覚判断 -韓国語を母語とする日本語学習者を対象として-

感情を表した日本語音声の知覚判断 -韓国語を母語とする日本語学習者を対象として-

Co-authorship of Joint utterances in Japanese

The paper introduces a type of joint utterance construction in Japanese, in which two independent sentential-level units are amalgamated, which has hitherto received little attention in the literature. Unlike traditional joint utterance construction where one speaker maintains authority over the syntactic structure of the forthcoming continuation and the other accedes to this, thereby constituting a single TCU (turn constructional unit), our examples demonstrate that both speakers can have authority over the syntactic design of joint utterances. We call such collaborative utterances ‘co-authored joint utterances’ in this paper.The uniqueness of co-authored joint utterances lies in their syntactic architecture. While syntactic and semantic continuity are successfully achieved in constructing co-authored joint utterances, they represent a co-joined structure in which two sentential-level units are involved with their shared part constituting a point of amalgamation, and because of this, the structure of a co-authored joint utterance can no longer be parsed with extant grammar.In analysing co-authored joint utterances, we examine how they can be treated in relation to the distinction between TCU (Turn Constructional Unit) continuation and new TCUs. Due to the particularities of the syntactic architecture of co-authored joint utterances, their existence raises questions about the way in which this distinction is currently operationalised, because despite being syntactically an incremental continuation, and so seemingly a TCU continuation, the co-authored joint utterance implements an action beyond what was initially instantiated by the antecedent of that joint utterance, and so arguably constitutes a new TCU.

BERTUTUR SANTUN MELALUI TTL

Abstract Courtesy ( politeness ) is one of the recalled strategies to maintain good relations between speaker and hearer . In this study, politeness is defined as the awareness of speakers will image the hearer; a concept called ‘the face’ (Brown and Levinson, 1987). To express politeness, one of which is realized with indirect speech act (TTL), for example, to declare a function directive, speakers can use direct speech (TL) with the imperative sentences and use TTL with declarative or interrogative sentences. This study aims to find a form of directive utterances in Japanese as well as politeness strategies. The benefit of this research is to provide choice to the learner how to speak Japanese, especially for express orders using TTL. Data obtained through the identification process to find speech that is suspected to contain commands mean. This step begins by identifying and marking the discourse in the form of dialogues that contains the event said directive . Directive speech is then transcribed (romanization) , which over the alphabet of Japanese characters into Latin letters. After transcription, triangulation to native speakers. Subsequently translation (transliteration) of the Japanese language as the source language (BS) into the Indonesian language as the target (BT). The translation process includes : (1) translation literally, is glossed words each forming the speech or discourse; (2) a free translation, the translation is bound context that focuses on BT. This is done so that the translation is communicative. Based on the results of the study found seven forms of expression TTL directive to express politeness in Japanese , namely : Form [ VTE ] , [ ~ mashō ] , [ ~ kara ] , [ ~ te hoshii ] , [ ~ yattorun ? ] , [ ~ U / yo ] , and [ ~ yoni suru shikanai ] . Keywords : command ; TTL ; politeness ; directive ; imperative

The use of durational variables to characterize the rhythmic patterns of non-fluent Japanese utterance by non-native speakers

Twenty-nine durational variables were examined to clarify rhythmic characteristics in non-fluent Japanese utterances by non-native speakers. Discriminant analysis with these variables was performed on 343 Japanese words, each pronounced in a carrier sentence by six native Japanese speakers and 14 non-native Japanese speakers (7 Vietnamese with low Japanese proficiency and 7 Chinese with high Japanese proficiency). The results showed that a combination of two durational variables could discriminate Japanese speakers from Vietnamese speakers with a small error (8.7%, n = 4458), namely the percentage of vowel duration and the average of “Normalized Voice Onset Asynchrony,” which is an interval time between the onset of two successive vowels divided by the first vowel's duration. However, these two variables made a large error (39.4%, n = 4458) in the discrimination of Japanese speakers from Chinese speakers who had higher Japanese proficiency than Vietnamese speakers. These results suggest that the two variables characterize the rhythmic pattern in a non-fluent Japanese utterance by non-native speakers with low Japanese proficiency. [This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 22320081, 24652087, 25284080, and by Aichi Shukutoku University Cooperative Research Grant 2013-2014.]

The “panphonic” text of “The North Wind and the Sun” for the illustration of the International Phonetic Alphabet of Japanese consonants and its use in the phonetic analysis of Japanese speech

A “panphonic” version of the text of “The North Wind and the Sun” for the illustration of the IPA of Japanese (Tokyo dialect) consonants has previously been devised by the present authors [Hiki et al., Proc. 17th Int’l. Cong. on Phonetic Sciences, Hong Kong, 871–873 (2011)]. The present paper describes the main characteristics of this panphonic text in relation to its use in the phonetic analysis of Japanese speech utterances, providing examples of the result of the analysis of sample recitations. The panphonic text embraces all 16 consonant phonemes, their 11 major positional allophones, and 5 free variants in a short, simple text that consists of 8 sentences (113 words, 294 syllables). The relation among consonant phonemes and their allophones is shown effectively by a new arrangement of rows and columns in the IPA consonant chart. Possible pause locations are systematically indicated using appropriate pause symbols. The text is useful in examining the phonetic properties of Japanese utterances, for example, the effect of consonants on vowel devoicing, and large-scale segmentation of utterances by pauses of different durations.

Mouth Shape Detection Based on Template Matching and Optical Flow for Machine Lip Reading

The authors describe an improved method for detecting distinctive mouth shapes in Japanese utterance image sequences. Their previous method uses template matching. Two types of mouth shapes are formed when a Japanese phone is pronounced: one at the beginning of the utterance (the beginning mouth shape, BeMS) and the other at the end (the ending mouth shape, EMS). The authors’ previous method could detect mouth shapes, but it misdetected some shapes because the time period in which the BeMS was formed was short. Therefore, they predicted that a high-speed camera would be able to capture the BeMS with higher accuracy. Experiments showed that the BeMS could be captured; however, the authors faced another problem. Deformed mouth shapes that appeared in the transition from one shape to another were detected as the BeMS. This study describes the use of optical flow to prevent the detection of such mouth shapes. The time period in which the mouth shape is deformed is detected using optical flow, and the mouth shape during this time is ignored. The authors propose an improved method of detecting the BeMS and EMS in Japanese utterance image sequences by using template matching and optical flow.