Perceptual properties of Russians with Japanese fricatives

This study investigated the perceptual properties of second language learners in acquiring second language phonemes. The case where the relation between two phonemes of a second language and those of a native language changes according to following vowels was studied. The perceptual properties of Russians with regards to Japanese fricatives were examined. In the perception test, the confusion of [Ûo] with [so] was very large. This phenomenon could be caused by the difference between the transition onset time from [s’] to vowels and that from the other consonants to vowels. It is considered that, in the case of following vowel [a] and [o], Russians equated Japanese [s] and [Û] with Russian [s] and [s'] respectively. However, in the case of [u], they did not equate them in such a manner. This is probably because the acoustic properties of Japanese [•] are very different from those of Russian [u].