The Japanese Flap in EFL: Variability and Accent

A study investigated the substitution of the Japanese flap for English liquids In and /1/ by 11 Japanese students in their first and fourth years of college. Phonological patterns were examined at the two different stages, in reading vs. spontaneous oral language tasks, and for word-initial singleton vs. word-initial cluster environments. The number of obligatory instances of In and /1/ for each speaker for three reading tasks at the two stages combined ranged from 140 to 159 depending on the speaker. Individuals' Japanese flap substitutions varied from 0-86 percent. Most had fewer flap substitutions in the fourth year, and more flaps in spontaneous than in reading tasks. All substituted flaps more often for /1/ than for /r/. Flaps were substituted more frequently for singleton liquids than for liquids in clusters. A negative correlation was found between global foreign accent and percentage of Japanese flap substitutions. Contains 15 references. (MSE) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** ICU Language Research Bulletin 1k Vol. 13 1998 Vat1 The Japanese Flap in EFL: Variability and Accent U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. POints of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Q4 Timothy J. Riney and Mari Takada 0 The Japanese Flap in EFL: Variability and Accent Timothy J. Riney Mari Takada International Christian University Georgetown University Tokyo Washington, DC In this study we assess the substitution of the Japanese flap (/r/) for English liquids (Id and /1/) by 11 Japanese students during their first and fourth years (T1, T2) of college. Percentage of Japanese flap substitutions are calculated at T1 vs. T2, for target /r/ vs. 111, in reading vs. spontaneous tasks, and for word-initial singleton (#_V) vs. word-initial cluster environments (#C_V, #CC_V). The number of obligatory instances of In and /1/ for each speaker for 3 reading tasks and Ti and T2 combined ranged from 140 to 159 (depending on the speaker). Individuals' Japanese flap substitutions varied from 0% to 86%. Most speakers had fewer flap substitutions at T2 than at Ti and more flaps in the spontaneous tasks than in the reading tasks. All speakers substituted flaps more often for IV than for /r/. Flaps were substituted significantly (p<= .05) more often for singleton liquids than for liquids in clusters. A negative correlation was found between global foreign accent and percentage of Japanese flap substitutions (r = -.76, df = 20, p < .001). Researchers (e.g., Goto, 1971) in second language acquisition have for some time recognized the difficulty that the English liquids, /r/ and /1/, pose for Japanese speakers. The English liquids have probably received more attention than any other consonants in the literature investigating Japanese ESL pronunciation (Riney & Anderson-Hsieh, 1993). In prevocalic position, English /1/ is usually a voiced, alveolar, lateral approximant; in is usually described as a voiced, alveolar (sometimes retroflexed) approximant (Ladefoged, 1993). Japanese has no consonant similar to either English liquid. The Japanese liquid (Id) is an apico-alveolar flap or tap that is transliterated in the roman alphabet as "r." The Japanese sound occurs only prevocalically and intervocalically, and it contrasts with /d/ but not with any lateral or retroflex phones (Price, 1981). The flap that occurs in American English, however, is widely considered to be an allophonic variant not of Id, but of /t/ and /d/ (as in kitty and kiddy). Thus, the phonological roles and distributions of the Japanese and American flaps are quite different.