Abstract
日本人が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(今回
は US English)につうじない英語（発音、単語）があることを自分で体験して、どうし
て日本人には発音ができない英語があるのかと考え、興味を持ち調べようと思いまし
た。英語は世界共通の言葉で、世界の人々がﾞコミニュケーションをとるこのできる一
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事が当たり前
になり、その中でも英会話をする中で日本人にとっては最大の壁、「発音」が特に問
題だと思います。特に、日本人が困難とする６つの母音について調べました。日本語
には存在しない母音なので、それを日本人は発音することが難しく、すぐにはネイティ
ブスピーカーに通じる発音が出来ないため、日本人は英語の発音を一番近い日本語
の発音で代用して、話していることが分かりました。
Outline
１．Introduction
２． Difference between Japanese and English vowels
2.1 The vowel inventories of Japanese and English
３．The 6 problem vowels
４．Conclusion
５．Bibliography
1. Introduction
Japanese who graduated from junior high school, high school,
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.
This paper will analyze and consider Japanese weak points and common
problems in terms of pronuncation of English vowels.
2. Difference between Japanese and English vowels
As for vowel pronunciation, the position of a tongue determines
sound. Only five vowels exist in Japanese that fifteen vowels exist in English.
The size of the mouth is restricted, so in English pronunciation one must
decide the position of the tongue more clearly than in Japanese. Although we
are cautious of how to open the mouth in Japanese, English pronunciation
puts more emphasis on the position of the tongue.
2.1 The vowel inventories of Japanese and English
One reason that Japanese can’t pronounce English well is that
English has fourteen vowels 1 (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.
Chart 1. English Vowels
from: http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
1
Headbloom and Suzuki (1998) P８
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.
/ɚ/：bird /I/：win /U/：pull /ʌ/：cut /ǽ/：catch /ɔ/：caught
Those who study a foreign language tend to substitute the pronunciation
which they know for the pronunciation which they do not know. The
following section will give example of what phonemes Japanese substitute
for problem phonemes in English.
3. The 6 problem vowels2
The following mentions and explains the six problem vowels in detail
with examples. It also tells the phonemes usually used in Japanese to
substitute.
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
ahead in a mouth. Although this pronunciation resembles /i/, it is
prononounced much more relaxed.
However, Japanese often substitute /i/ for /I/.
and click become /ʃift/ and /klik/.
2
Headbloom and Suzuki (1998) P１3
For example, the shift
2. Pronunciation of /ɚ/ (American ‘r’)
・service word survey prefer first worry turn alert version
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 form drawn back.
The pronunciation sounds like Japanese / ɯ /, but actually Japanese
substitute / a / for / ɚ /.
3. Pronunciation of /U/
・put pull full book took foot woman wood bull look should
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, the pull and pool become /pul/ and
/pu:l/. We pronounce the pronunciation of pool with long U. Differences is
how to use muscles and how to open a mouth. /u/ is strain and the rounded
mouth. /U/ is relaxation and the mouth which is not rounded
4. Pronunciation of /ʌ/
・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/
・ task cash cancel 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)
・broad office off all soft long offer fall audio cross
For the pronunciation of /ɔ/, the tongue is in the back lower part and
it is located before and behind the position which swallows a thing exactly.
Japanese substitute /o / for /ɔ /.
・property honor not stop hot job process on top
Although it is very easy for Japanese to pronounce this sound itself, it is
common to substitute /o/ for it as well.
４. Conclusion
This paper investigated the difference in the pronunciation of
English and Japanese. It turned out that Japanese people pronounce and
transpose into Japanese the phonemes which they cannot pronounce in
English. Especially, we investigated the pronunciation of six English
problem vowels which do not exist in Japan.
The difficulty of English pronunciation for Japanese can be divided
into three fields and considered: vowels, consonants and suprasegmentals
such as rhythm and intonation. Here we have concentrated on vowels.
However, two other fields of importance -- pronunciation of consonants, and
rhythm and intonation -- can be part of further study.
５．Bibliography
Headbloom, A. and Suzuki, T. (1998) Near-Native English, Tokyo: Maruzen library.
Speech Accent Archive (last updated 2003) George Mason University, available
http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/