ISCA Archive ICSLP 1996
ISCA Archive ICSLP 1996

Phrase-final lengthening and stress-timed shortening in the speech of native speakers and Japanese learners of English

Motoko Ueyama

This study is intended to describe and analyze the durational patterns of native Japanese speakers learning English, with a focus on two major prosodic effects: phrase-final lengthening and stress-timed shortening. To investigate the relative contribution of these effects, a production experiment was conducted, adapting the methodological framework of Beckman and Edwards (1990). The effects of three degrees of boundary strength (the boundaries separating the members of a compound; two phonological phrases; and two intonational phrases) on the two phenomena were analyzed. Native English speakers, beginning Japanese learners of English, and advanced Japanese learners of English were compared.