Perceptual Development on the Identification of Length in L2 Japanese

This study explored perceptual development on the identification of word-final vowel length in L2 Japanese in terms of boundary location and width. Native speakers of Chinese (NC) and Japanese (NJ) participated in the study. The NC were further classified into two, NC-higher or NC-lower. NC-lower demonstrated wider boundary width and greater boundary location than the other two did, but NJ and NC-higher were not significantly different. These results suggest that L2 learners’ perception function in the L2 can approximate to native speakers’ as learning proceeds. In addition, pitch affected both NC-higher’s and NC-lower’s boundary location in the same manner as it did to NJ’s. NC may have learned such perception; moreover they may have modified their perception in accordance with NJ’s production.