Presentation

Japanese Epenthetic Vowels: How Japanese Speakers Pronounce English Words

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Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to examine which epenthetic vowels Japanese speakers utilize in pronouncing English words. An analysis of Japanese loanwords from English indicates that Japanese speakers utilize [_] as the context-free default epenthetic vowel, and [o] and [i] as the context-dependent epenthetic vowels. In the framework of the Optimality Theory (OT), I propose that these epentheses are explained with the constraints in ranking of, *COMPLEX, CODACOND >> MAX-IO >> PALATAL-FRONT, SYLLABLE INVENTORY STRUCTURE (SIS), IDENT-IO >> *ROUND, *LOW >> *FRONT >> HIGH >> BACK >> DEP-I. This study claims that native Japanese speakers pronounce English words based on this constraint-ranking.

How to Cite:

Shoji, S., (2013) “Japanese Epenthetic Vowels: How Japanese Speakers Pronounce English Words”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 5(1).