Differences in pronunciation of
Japanese and US English
BY
Haruka Maeda
SHORT PAPER
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS
IN ENGLISH STUDIES
SUPERVISOR: Judy Yoneoka
Kumamoto Gakuen University
Oe 2-5-1 Kumamoto
Japan
December 17, 2004
This thesis consists of approx. 2800 words
Table of Contents
１，Introduction
２．Difference between Japanese and English consonants
2.1 The consonant inventories of Japanese and English
2.2 The 5 problem consonants
2.3 Difference between R and L.
2.4 Improvement
3. Difference between Japanese and English vowels
3.1 The vowel inventories of Japanese and English
3.2 The 6 problem vowels
4. Stress and Accent Syllable structure
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
Abstract
日本語と英語（ＵＳ）の発音の違いについて調べています。最終的に自
分の納得できる発音で自信を持って話せるようになりたいからです。どんなに
英語の発音の練習をしても、ネイティブスピーカー（US English）に通じない
英語（発音、単語）があることを自分で実際に体験して、悔しく思いました。
なぜ、日本人には発音ができない英語があるのかと興味を持ち、日本語と英語
の「大きな違い」や「発音できない単語」、また「発音できない原因」、「リ
ズム」、「音節」、「アクセント」など、母音と子音に分けて細かく調べてい
きたいと思います。上手く発音できない・・・、なぜだろう・・・、でも練習
してなんとかネイティブの発音に近づきたい！という方に分かりやすく、納得
できるように分析していきます。英語は世界共通の言葉で、世界の人々がコミ
ュニケーションをとることのできる一つの手段です。これからは世界の一人一
人が英語を話せるようになることが、当たり前です。英語は「外国語」という
考えを止め、うまく発音できないのは当り前、話せないのは当り前、という考
えを無くし、コミュニケーションをとるための手段、母国語と同じような感覚
で将来使っていけたら素晴らしいと思います。
１．Introduction
Japanese who graduate from junior high school, high school and
university have spent 10 years studying English. Even so, there are few
Japanese who can speak English. Perhaps one reason for this is Japanese
pronunciation of English. In this paper, Japanese weak points and common
problems will be analyzed and considered, and the structure of
pronunciation of English will be analyzed in detail. The reason is easy
although English pronunciation is very difficult for Japanese. It is
because a mouth must be moved as the sound and the rhythm about which it
has not spoken by then are needed and not being moved until now. The
difficulty is divided into three fields and considered. These are vowel
pronunciation, consonant pronunciation , and rhythm and syllable
structure.1
1
Headbloom and Suzuki (1998:5)
２．Differences between Japanese and English consonants
Japanese and English have a big difference in structure. Japanese
is constituted focusing on voweld and English mostly consists of consonants.
Moreover, compared with using the frequency band Japanese is spoken at 500
～1500Hz, but it turns out that English is spoken with 1500～5000Hz or more
by the very high frequency band.
２.1
The consonant inventories of Japanese and English
The following consonants of English are in Japanese as well. What
can be understood by Japanese, then, are the following 14 consonants.
〔p-〕
〔b-〕… similar to Japanese "パ行" and Japanese "バ行"
*p
pick , happy , cap
*b
best , cabbage , job
〔t-〕
〔d-〕…similar to Japanese "タ行" and "ダ行"
*t
tea , butter , fruit
*d
day , ladder , salad
〔sh-〕…resembles the sound in "シ" and "シャシュショ"
〔ch-〕resembles the sound in "チ" and "チャチュチョ"
〔j〕…resembles the sound in "ザ行"
〔k-〕
〔g-〕…similar to Japanese " カ行" and "ガ行"
*k
cut ,pocket , book
*g
go , bigger , bag
〔h-〕…resembles Japanese"ハ行"
〔m-〕…similar to "マ行."
〔n-〕…partially similar to "ン" and the "ナ行."
〔s-〕…resembles "サ行"
〔-x〕…〔k〕＋〔s〕Therefore, it is the most intelligible2.
However, we need to be cautious of the following points for these
consonants.
2
http://www.snkkoi.com/zine/bob/2003_0416.html
１, They are hard to catch in the end of a word.
2, /t/ , /d/ may become 「ラ行」 in fast spoken English
Chart 1a. English Consonants (from http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/)
Chart
1b.
Japanese
Consonants
(from
http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/)
２．２ The seven problem consonants
Especially, the following seven consonants are difficult for
Japanese, because they are not in Japanese;
/r/, /l/
/b/, /v/
/f/,/h/ /ʃ / ,/s/ /ð/, /z/
/th/
R. vs. L, Word meanings differ only by /r / and /l/; that is, these
two sounds are in minimal contrast. In combinations of words the meaning
completely differs. And, in Japanese it is the most difficult problem that
it can’t be avoided. We have to practice of conversion of /r/ and /l/. We
have to be conscious of where the tongue touches. Here are some examples;
・rock－lock right－light rent－lent crime－climb ray－lay
・pray－play brink－blink
It is widely known in the world that Japanese people cannot pronounce
/r/ and /l/ well. These resemble Japanese ラリルレロ, but in fact, both
/r/ and /l/have different pronunciation. As for the pronunciation of /l/
the tip of the tongue contacts the root of the upper front tooth. Air passes
around the side of the tongue. As for pronunciation of /r/ both the sides
of tongue contact a molar and the gum. Air passes through the upper part
of a tongue. Fundamentally, the pronunciation of /r/ is the same as the
pronunciation of vowel /ɚ/. 3
The pronunciation of /r/ and /l/ can be improved as follows:
Practice of a change of /r/ and /l/ is performed being conscious of where
the tongue touches. It Repeat with side and front, it and carry out until
the difference is known clearly. It should also turn out that the whole
tongue is moving forward and backward. 4
Similarly, /b/ and /v/ are minimal pairs:
best－vest bail－veil habit－have it base－vase
Japanese people’s pronunciation sounds like hear “バビブベボ”for both
/b/ and /v/.But recently Japanese have become aware of the distinction
between /b/ and /v/, Japanese will become bettor speak of English.
fight－height fail－hail fit－hit fire－hire
Fire and hire have completely different meaning, so it gives rise to
outrageous misunderstanding.
th and /Ѳ/ /ð/are the pronunciations which do not exist in Japanese,
as well languages in the world. Therefore, this pronunciation serves as
a burden for almost all people that study English. In both pronunciations,
the tip of a tongue is touching the tooth, or it is inserted between the
teeth. It is important that the tongue cannot be withdrawn while air is
3
4
Headbloom and Suzuki (1998;24)
Fuji (1985:216)
flowing.
Although vocal cords do not vibrate by the pronunciation of /Ѳ/, vibration
of vocal cords is required of the pronunciation of/ð/. If the tip of the
tongue separates from the tooth, such sound will turn into sound of
/s/or/z/.5
think – sink ,
sought
then - Zen ,
thing – sing ,
these – Z’s ,
thank – sank ,
thumb – some ,
thought –
theme -
seem
〔r-〕…In Japanese "ラリルレロ", the tongue point contacts the ceiling
of a mouth, but English 〔r-〕 sound does not touch the ceiling.
〔l-〕…the position of a tongue is touching the front upper teeth
〔f-〕…Unlike Japanese "フ", we have to touch the upper teeth to the
lower lip exactly.
〔v-〕…unlike "フ" of Japanese which is sounded in the throat, the upper
teeth must be touching the lower lip.
〔th-〕…The position of the tongue is important.
〔th-〕(Voiced)…Even with the right position of a tongue, Japanese
people's voicing is weak.
〔z-〕…It has to be pronounced slowly. And you have to extend voicing
to the sound which comes after 〔z-〕.
It is hard to catch the following five consonants.
〔wh-〕…lips must be rounded
〔w-〕…lips must be rounded
〔qu-〕…lips must be rounded
〔-ng〕…must be sounded in the throat
〔y-〕…It begins as the sound near 〔ee〕 of tree in fact. It is not
"ヤ行" of Japan.
３．Difference between Japanese and English vowels
When vowels are pronounced, the position of the tongue in the mouth
5
Headbloom and Suzuki (1998;25)
determines the sound. Only five vowels exist in Japanese but fourteen vowels
exist in English. The size of the mouth is restricted, so English
pronunciation must decide the position of a tongue more clearly than
Japanese.
３．１ The vowel inventories of Japanese and English
One reason that Japanese can’t pronounce English well is that
English has fourteen vowels (including diphthongs ai, au, and oi), but
Japanese has only five vowels. English is difficult for Japanese because
they usually don’t use so many vowels.
We will start by making a comparison between the two diagrams showing
the vowel inventory of English (Chart 2a) and Japanese (chart 2b) .
Chart 2a.
English Vowels
from: http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
Chart 2b.
Japanese Vowels
from: http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
Comparing the two diagrams, it turns out that the following vowels
which do not exist in Japanese are problems.
/I/：win
/ɚ/：bird
/ɔ/：caught
/U/：pull
/ʌ/：cut
/ǽ/：catch /e/：tennis
/a/：job
Of these, /e/ and /a/ are similar enough to Japanese vowels that
they are not problems. The other six will be discussed in detail here.
３．２
The six problem vowels
The following mentions and explains typical words using the six
problem vowels above for Japanese. Foreign language students tend to
substitute the pronunciation which they know for these vowels.
1. Pronunciation of /I/
・business
activity facility
shift
click
print
this
give
silver
The tongue at the time of the pronunciation of /I/ is highly located
in the
mouth. Although this pronunciation resembles /i/, it’s
pronunciation is much more relaxed.
However, Japanese often substitute /i/ for /I/.
and click become /ʃift/ and /klik/.
For example, shift
2. Pronunciation of /ɚ/ (American ‘r’)
Example : service
version
word
survey
prefer
first
worry
turn
alert
In the pronunciation of /ɚ/ the tongue is highly located in the
center of the mouth. The point of tongue is rolled back lightly (retroflex).
The most important thing is that the whole tongue has a drawn back form.
For example the pronunciation sounds like Japanese / ɯ /, but
actually Japanese substitute /a / for / ɚ /.
3. Pronunciation of /U/
Example put
should
pull
full
book
took
foot
woman
wood
bull
look
In the pronunciation of /U/, the tongue is located back all the time
highly. The pronunciation is close to Japanese / ɯ /, which is used as
a substitute for both /u/ and /U/ in English.
For example pull and pool become /u/,
4. Pronunciation of /ʌ/
Example Sunday
Monday
does
what
mother
won
hundred
number
For the pronunciation of /ʌ/, the tongue is located in the center
of the mouth. Actually Japanese substitute / a / for /ʌ/.
5. Pronunciation of /æ/
Example task
cash
past
manual
fast
travel
gas
balance
For the pronunciation of /æ/, the tongue is located in the front
and low.
Japanese substitute / a / for /æ/
6. Pronunciation of /ɔ/ and /a/ (/a/ in US English)
Example broad
office
off
all
soft
long
offer
fall
audio
cross
For the pronunciation of /ɔ/, the tongue is in the back lower part
of the mouth.
/ɔ//o/
Example property
honor
not
stop
hot
job
process
on
top
Although it is easy for Japanese to pronounce this sound itself,
it is common to substitute /o/ for it as well.
4．Stress, Accent and Syllable structure
Though English and Japanese are both natural languages, the rhythm
differs completely between the two. In order for Japanese people to do
language pronounce English like a native, they need to be cautious of word
stress, reduced syllables, and connection between words.
4.1 Stress
There are four elements of stress in English. Japanese need to be
aware of all four elements.
1. The word on which stress is put is pronounced strongly.
2. The word on which stress is put is pronounced with a high sound.(=pitch)
3. The word on which stress is put is pronounced long time.(=length)
4. The vowel of the word on which stress is put is pronounced
firmly.(=accsent)
Reduced syllables are not emphasized. In words with reduced syllable,
a vowel turns into "an ambiguous vowel." This vowel has the same
pronunciation as ‘uh’ which is used for example by Americans to remember
what they want to say next and is murmured ambiguously in the mouth.
4.2 Liaison
Turning to the problem of linking or liaison in order to speak
smooth English, native speakers pronounce separate words as a word group
of chunks rather than pronouncing each word separately. In English, this
connection is important. One example is proper use of ‘a’ and ‘an’. In front
of a noun which starts with a vowel, students who begin to learn English
surely learn that not ‘a’ but ‘an’ should be attached to words such as “award”.
This is because this cannot link ‘a’ and a vowel easily.
Here are examples of linking in the combination of ‘an’ and a word
which starts with a vowel.
an apple → a napple → anapple
an industry → a nindustry → anindustry
an umbrella → a numbrella → anumbrella
an executive → nexecutive → anexecutive
Native speakers speak in this way every day. ‘n’ links with vowels
in the upper examples, but consonants are often also linked, as follows.
He is not tired. → He snot tired. → he’snottired.
She’s
seldom
in
trouble.
She’sseldominetrouble.
→
She
is
sseldo
min
trouble.
→
I’d
like
coffee,
please.
→
I
dli
kecoffee
please.
→
I’d
likecoffeeplease.6
4,3 Strength, and accent
Strength and the rhythm of English are very irregular and methods
of pronunciation of the syllable are affected by means of language. The
difference between syllables pronounced strongly and long, and syllables
pronounced weakly and short has been clarified. Compared with it, the height
of sound and strength seldom change in Japanese. For the reason, Japanese
people tend to pronounce English evenly. And the English which Japanese
hear is expected to be flat. That is, their expectation and reality are
widely different and this makes listening comprehension difficult.
If we look at the pronunciation of actual English, it turns out that
there are two problems. One is the existence of a syllable stress emphasis
and another is weak stress. The school education of English in Japanese
does not teach these clearly to Japanese ears.7
A way of emphasizing a word also exists in the syllables of a word.
This use has the effect of highlighting the accent.
The syllable with an accent is expressed with the capital letter in the
following words.8
PIIot,
ocCUR,
LAbel,
eXAmine
Image,
Effort,
appROpriate,
Accent is given to the vowel, so the pronunciation of the above words
can be written exaggeratedly as follows. This helps students understand
the difference between accented and unaccented syllables.
pAAAIIlot,
lAAAAbel,
IIIImage,
EEEEEffort,
6
Head bloom and Suzuki(1998;36)
7
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Berkeley/7190/kotsu01.htm
8
Head bloom and Suzuki(1998;45)
apprOOOUUpriate,
occURRRRRR,
eXAAAAmine
In contrast to these accented syllables, the syllable that is pronounced
weakly becomes truly "indifferent", and the vowel also becomes ambiguous
"schwa".
If the secondary syllable becomes too weak, it becomes impossible
to catch. The examples below shows this with the sign of " ’ "
pAAAIIl’t
lAAAAb’l
‘ccURRRRRR
‘AAAAmine
IIIIm’ge
EEEEEff’rt
apprOOOUUpri’te
Many examples of "weak pronunciation " can be seen not only in single
words but also in a text. As with word accent, words that are important
in a text and words with a high degree of information (a noun, verb,
adjective, and adverb) are pronounced strongly.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the differences between Japanese and English
pronunciation were discussed in detail.
Specifically, we saw the
difference in the consonant inventories of Japanese and English. The seven
problem consonants are difficult to pronounce for Japanese. Especially,
R and L are difficult, but we can learn the difference between R and L by
practicing.
Another large difference between Japanese and English vowels is that
there are too many vowels in English. Especially, when we compare vowel
inventories of Japanese and English, we see 6 problem vowels (/ɚ/ /I/ /U/
/ʌ/ /ǽ/ /ɔ/). These also can be learned by practicing. Especially, it is
important to realize that English and Japanese differ in terms of structure
of vowels inside of the mouth.
Finally, understanding the differences between stress and accent
and syllable structure in Japanese and English is very important. Japanese
need to be especially cautious of word stress, reduced syllables, and
connection between words to pronounce English naturally.
Japanese pronunciation is one of the biggest causes of difficulty
in English. Since their pride is high, Japanese people do not realize that
it is difficult. However, if they practice repeatedly at home, they will
come to talk dignifiedly with confidence.
Bibliography
Fujii, Kenzo. (1985) “Grown-up English pronunciation lecture –English
phonetics study group” Tokyo: Kensyusya
George Mason University. (1999)“Speech accent archive”, available
http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
Headbloom Alan, Suzuki Toshio. (1998) “English approaching a native”
Tokyo: Maruzen
Kotsu01. available
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Berkeley/7190/kotsu01.htm
(1997.17.oct)