Are loan sequences different from foreign sequences? A perception study with Japanese listeners on coronal obstruent – high front vowel sequences
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Native phonotactics influences speech perception, as numerous studies have shown. The present study tackles the question whether there is a difference in perceptual performance if the involved sequence occurs only in loanwords, compared to a sequence that does not occur at all in the native language. This was tested with the native Japanese sequences of palatal affricate plus /i/, compared to /ti/ (accepted only in loanwords) versus /zi/ (not accepted in Japanese) in an online AX discrimination task with 39 Japanese speakers (21-63 years old), who also had to answer three questions on their received English input. Participants performed significantly better at discriminating the accepted loan sequence /ti/, though discrimination of the foreign sequence /zi/ was also quite high (ranging from 40-100% correct). The results indicate that discriminability is only partly guided by native phonotactics. A potential role of amount of English input measured by self- report could not be attested.
Source: Interspeech (USB)
Authors: Silke Hamann, Andrea Alićehajić
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4415433938
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