Pitch accent, phrase tones, and vowel devoicing in Tokyo Japanese

1997 ◽  
Vol 101 (5) ◽  
pp. 3195-3195
Author(s):  
Mafuyu Kitahara
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Tokyo Japanese ◽  
Vowel Devoicing

TRAINING ENGLISH LISTENERS TO IDENTIFY PITCH-ACCENT PATTERNS IN TOKYO JAPANESE

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 739-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina A. Shport
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Immediate Feedback ◽  
Language Bias ◽  
New Words ◽  
Tokyo Japanese ◽  
Pitch Patterns

The high-variability training paradigm (multiple words, phonetic contexts, and talkers) has been successful for perceptual learning of tone contrasts. Here, it is extended to training native English listeners on Tokyo Japanese pitch-accent contrasts. Participants had no previous experience with lexically contrastive pitch patterns. They learned to identify three pitch patterns in disyllabic Japanese words: 1st-syllable accented, 2nd-syllable accented, and unaccented. Immediate feedback was provided to the training group but not to the control group. The results showed an effect of training on pitch-pattern identification accuracy that was also generalized to new words spoken in new contexts. In contrast, the control group improved only on the 1st-syllable accented pattern. Error analysis suggested that the unaccented pattern is the most difficult to identify. The results are discussed in terms of native language bias and individual bias affecting second language learning in the prosodic domain.

Assessing surface phonological specification through simulation and classification of phonetic trajectories

Phonology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Shaw ◽  
Shigeto Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Space ◽  
Movement Trajectories ◽  
Electromagnetic Articulography ◽  
Unseen Data ◽  
Tokyo Japanese ◽  
Frequency Components ◽  
Surface Representations ◽  
Vowel Devoicing ◽  
Empirical Material

Many previous studies have argued that phonology may leave some phonetic dimensions unspecified in surface representations. We introduce computational tools for assessing this possibility though simulation and classification of phonetic trajectories. The empirical material used to demonstrate the approach comes from electromagnetic articulography recordings of high-vowel devoicing in Japanese. Using Discrete Cosine Transform, tongue-dorsum movement trajectories are decomposed into a small number of frequency components (cosines differing in frequency and amplitude) that correspond to linguistically meaningful signal modulations, i.e. articulatory gestures. Stochastic generators of competing phonological hypotheses operate in this frequency space. Distributions over frequency components are used to simulate (i) the vowel-present trajectories and (ii) the vowel-absent trajectories. A Bayesian classifier trained on simulations assigns posterior probabilities to unseen data. Results indicate that /u/ is optionally produced without a vowel-height specification in Tokyo Japanese and that the frequency of such targetlessness varies systematically across phonological environments.

scholarly journals Prototypical Predicates Have Unmarked Phonology

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Least Privilege ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Tokyo Japanese ◽  
Phonological Contrasts ◽  
Category Effects ◽  
General Scale

Recent work recognizes that phonological processes and phonotactics can be sensitive to lexical category. Moreover, there are strong cross-linguistic tendencies concerning the nature of phonological differences between categories. One such tendency is a hierarchy of phonological privilege, N &gt; A &gt; V: nouns tend to license more phonological contrasts and tolerate more marked structures than adjectives, with verbs showing the least privilege and therefore the greatest phonological unmarkedness.<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="zxx">This paper proposes that the N &gt; A &gt; V hierarchy of phonological privilege derives from a more general scale, according to which protypical designators (or arguments) have more phonological privilege, and prototypical predicates show greater unmarkedness. This approach predicts that even <em>within</em> a given lexical category, such as V, category members that are more prototypical as predicates should show greater unmarkedness.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="zxx">A case study is presented in support of this proposal. In Tokyo Japanese, unergative verbs (more-prototypical predicates) show greater phonological unmarkedness with respect to pitch accent than unaccusative verbs (less-prototypical predicates). Some preliminary implications of this finding for our understanding of lexical-category effects in phonology, and of the role of markedness scales in the grammar, are also considered.</p>

Pitch-Accent in Tokyo Japanese

1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Eriko Sato
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Tokyo Japanese

scholarly journals Durational Evidence That Tokyo Japanese Vowel Devoicing Is Not Gradient Reduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tanner ◽  
Morgan Sonderegger ◽  
Francisco Torreira
Keyword(s):  
Tokyo Japanese ◽  
Vowel Devoicing
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