JE Pronunciation
Out line: JE Pronunciation
2002/01/07
Judy Yoneoka
1
Introduction
This paper will research about Japanese English pronunciation by difference of
Japanese and the US English, Characteristics of Japanese English pronunciation and
conclusion.
2
The difference of Japanese and the US English
This section will research the difference pronunciation between US and Japanese
English both. The bigger difference between the US and Japanese English is
pronunciation. There are both vowel and consonant differences in Japanese and English.
The English language has 20 vowels and 24 consonants, but Japanese language has
about half of each.
Introduce English Vowels
English /I/ sound is laxer than Japanese /i/. This sound is the middle of /i/ and /e/
sound in Japanese. English /έ / sound is close to /e/ sound in Japanese. The sound adds
/a/ sound a little bit. /ǽ/ sound is mixed /a/ and /e/ sound in Japanese. /a/ sound is more
open sound than Japanese /a/ sound. / / sound is between /a/ and /o/ sound in Japanese.
/Ǔ/ sound is lax rolled vowel. Japanese / / is not rolled but closes the lips. The sound is
close to /o/ sound. /i:/ sound is tense and like Japanese /i/ sound. /a:/ sound is wider than
Japanese /a/ sound. /u:/sound is the most rolled sound of English vowels. In this point, it
it’s the big difference of Japanese / / sound. / / sound is English original sound, and
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called “r-colored vowel”. This sound is especially difficult for Japanese.
(For example)
/i/ is “eat”, /I/ is “hit”, /e/ is “late”, /έ / is “pet”, /ǽ/ is “cat”, /a/ is “car”, / / is “cut”,
/ / is “saw”, / / is “hot”
Introduce English consonants
The /r/ sound is the most difficult for Japanese speaker. This sound is retroflex and
post dental or Alveolar. It is not the same as Japanese /r/ sound. Japanese /r/ is / / and it
is not rolled. Japanese /r/ sound is often heard as a /t/ sound for English speakers. There
is not / / sound in Japanese too. This sound touch the alveolar palate and sounds as
closed. /f / and /v/ do not exist in Japanese sound either. Japanese /f/ sound is / /, and /v/
sound is /b/. And also / / and / / are not exist in Japanese. They are substituted by /s/ and
/z/ sound in Japanese.
・English vowels chart
・International consonant chart
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/pulmonic.html
“R” and “l” are commonly considered the most difficult sounds for Japanese
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English speaker, so we will research more details. “r” sound is Fricative-Post Dental or
Alveolar sound and “l” sound is Lateral-Post Dental or Alveolar sound. According to
the A.C.Gimson Fricative consonants are formed by narrowing the mouth passage at
some point, so that the air, forcing its way through, makes a rubbing sound. The English
“l” is termed a lateral consonant because the air passage is stopped in the center by the
tip of the tongue against the teeth-ridge, the air escaping along one or both sides of the
tongue. In English, there are two well-defined types of “l” sounds; in both, the main
articulation is that described above, i.e. the tip of the tongue against the teeth-ridge.
There are actually 2 kinds of /l/ : “clear l” and “dark l”. The bigger difference is rolled
or not rolled. “r” sound is rolled sound, but “l” sound is not rolled sound.
(For example)
/l/
least, live, lend, late, land light, loud, large, lot, love, look, loose
/r/ rip, wrap, ran, ring, room, row, raw, merry
Another reason is that English includes a lot of consonant voice, but since a
consonant and a vowel become at last and Japanese always constitutes sound, there will
be many vowels relatively. So Japanese people chooses only vowels sound and a
consonant cannot be heard easily.
3
Characteristics of JE pronunciation
According to “ http://www.wakwak.com/~howtoeigo/pro2.html”
The question is “What do you think of Japanese people’s pronunciation of English?”
And they said “ It is rather rude to say, but the level of pronunciation is lower compared
to industrialized Asian countries such as Hong Kong. Perhaps because of Junior and
high school education. English education stresses reading, and written translation than
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verbal communications. Also some of the teachers are not particularly confident of their
pronunciation, so they don’t correct student’s pronunciation.” And also, “ In general, it
is not good because of Katakana. Even when speaking English, Japanese try to
pronounce English words in a Japanese way.”
Others said that emphasis, intonation, rinking, Pitch Range and weaking are the
lack of Japanese English speaker. English’s rhythm is “rhythm-stressed” and Japanese’
is “syllable-stressed”. Rinking is the sound of unit in the case of the last consonant of a
word before starting vowel of a word, like “in a”. It is pronounced “ina” by English
speaker. Japanese people almost don’t use the rinking. Pitch Range is the change of
voice tones. Weaking is the phenomenon that does not say clear the consonant when the
words finished “t” and “d”.
4
Conclusion
Why can Japanese – English learner not speak or listen English well? We have three
reasons. The first reason is that English has a lot of sounds and intonation to compare
with Japanese sounds. English language is not the same as Japanese language at all.
Japanese – English learner have to know about the sounds which have only English to
be good at English. The second reason is that Japanese people do not almost have
chance to listen or speak another language ion common life. Japanese people do not
need to speak English so well in Japan, so they do not have the pressure to listen or
speak English. The last reason is that Japanese students have to study for examination to
enter some school and to study for “study”. Japanese school almost start to study
English in junior high school, but it is not real English conversation studying, but it is to
enter the high school in general. English is the most important and most speaking
language in all over the world. Japanese – English learner should study about sounds
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and conversation except for examination English study. The government start to real
English study in the class from the junior high school. Conversation and
Communication is the most important to study in the class. If it will succeed, Japanese
people speak naturally and listen normally in the future.
Bibliography
George 1., 15 August 2001
http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/phonResources.html#Phones
as of Sep 9, 2001
Melinda J. Menzer, 19 September, 2000
http://www.furman.edu/^mmenzer/gvs/what.htm
as of Sep 1, 2001
1996
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/pulmonic.html
as of Dec 1, 2001
Kevin Russell, 16 Junve, 1997
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/secl/cons.htm
as of Dec 1,2001
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