An Analysis of Word Duration in Native Speakers and Japanese Speakers of English

摘要

An analysis of word duration in English sentences uttered by native speakers of Japanese is made, in which the difference in prosodic patterns between the English and Japanese languages is taken into account. The durations of Japanese speakers are compared with those of English speakers in regard to a percentage distribution of an individual word relative to all words in a sentence. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that nouns and words at the ends of sentences in Japanese speakers were shorter for English speakers. The former result suggests that English speakers put prominence on nouns, whereas Japanese speakers tend not to have the same rhythm as English speakers. The latter result suggests that phrase-final lengthening is insufficient in Japanese speakers.