ISCA Archive ICSLP 1994
ISCA Archive ICSLP 1994

Using morphological analysis to improve Japanese pronunciation

Atsuko Kikuchi, Wayne Lawrence

This paper argues that correcting mispronunciations of words in a case-by-case fashion only serves to improve the pronunciation of the one particular form. The paper offers an alternative approach where (i) the morphological make-up of words, (ii) regular processes which apply at morpheme boundaries, and (iii) restrictions on the length of morphemes are taught to prevent common pronunciation mistakes such as *itoo (for ittoo 'one head'), *hokaidoo (for hokkaidoo), and *shupatsu, *shuupatsu, *shuuppatsu (for shuppatsu 'departure').