Comparison of cross-language coarticulation: English, Japanese and Japanese-accented English

This study investigates the cross-language coarticulation patterns in Australian English and Japanese. F2 trajectories between the vowel target and vowel onset/offset in the context of /d/ were plotted and locus equations were fitted to the datapoints to capture the degree of coarticulation. Three talker groups were considered: native talkers of Australian English (AE), L2 English talkers (L1 Japanese, hence, JE) and native Japanese talkers (J). Two native groups AE and J clearly showed different coarticulation patterns between the alveolar stop and the adjacent vowels. There was some suggestion that /d/ is most resistant to coarticulation in AE, least in J, while JE talkers produced intermediate coarticulation values. The deviation of JE talkers F2 trajectories from the AE group appeared more pronounced at the vowel offset than at the onset.