The role of L1 phonology in the perception of L2 semivowels
Abstract: The study compares how L1 Chinese and Japanese speakers perceive L2 English semivowels (/j/and/w/) preceding high vowels (/i/and/u/). In Chinese, [j] and [w] serve as phonetic variants of/i/and/u/, respectively. However,/j/and/w/are distinct phonemes in Japanese, although Japanese/w/lacks the roundness feature found in English/w/. Participants completed experiments with a discrimination task and an identification task. While the discrimination task revealed no differences in/j/and/w/perception between the groups, the identification task showed that the Japanese speakers outperformed the Chinese speakers in their perception of/j/, suggesting an L1 “phonemic over phonetic” advantage. However, the Japanese speakers did not outperform the Chinese speakers in their perception of/w/, suggesting that an L2 feature unexploited in the L1 (i.e., roundness) can impede perception. These findings underscore the importance of considering both phonemic status and features in L2 speech perception.
- Location
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Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
- Extent
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Online-Ressource
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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The role of L1 phonology in the perception of L2 semivowels ; volume:40 ; number:2 ; year:2024 ; pages:141-159 ; extent:19
Journal of Japanese linguistics ; 40, Heft 2 (2024), 141-159 (gesamt 19)
- Creator
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Zhou, Wei William
- DOI
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10.1515/jjl-2024-2012
- URN
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urn:nbn:de:101:1-2411061600410.943688243942
- Rights
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Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
- Last update
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15.08.2025, 7:30 AM CEST
Data provider
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Associated
- Zhou, Wei William
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