- Program：Master’s Program
- Enrollment in：April 2021
- Study Plan：Language and Communication
- Directed Research: Speech Communication and Language Acquisition
Message
The number of non-native speakers around the world has surpassed the number of native English speakers. As a result, many different “varieties of English” have emerged throughout the world. Most of these English varieties contain a foreign accent, both those spoken in so called outer circles of English, such as Sri Lankan, India, and Pakistan and in countries where English is spoken as a foreign language, such as Japan, Korea, and China. This foreign accent arises due to the speakers’ first language transfer or first language interference. In other words, the speakers tend to substitute their first language features into their second language, which unwittingly creates a foreign accent.
Sometimes these foreign accents can be recognized as a distinguishing feature of an English variety. Such common features are often criticized and looked down upon due to its perceived difference or difficulty to understand.
Therefore, I am studying the cross-language perception of English by native Japanese speakers and native Sri Lankan Sinhalese speakers.
Both Japanese accented English and Sri Lankan accented English contain unique features derived from their different phonetic and phonemic inventories.
As a result of the recent increase of Sri Lankans visiting Japan and Japanese visiting Sri Lanka, it is becoming more important to study about how both groups perceive each other’s English; i.e. how Sri Lankans perceive Japanese accented English and how Japanese perceive Sri Lankan English.
For this study, I focused on English fricatives because all three languages, i.e. Japanese, Sinhalese and English, have different fricative phonemes. Therefore, both Japanese native speakers and Shinhalese speakers tend to substitute their own first language (L1) fricatives when they speak English. By conducting cross-language English perception experiments between native Japanese and Shinhalese speakers, I am identifying which substitutions of fricatives are most difficult for the other language group to understand. Based on the results, I intend to develop more effective listening and speaking materials which can help speakers of both language groups to improve their English pronunciation.
Therefore, I hope that my research will contribute to second language education and reduce the discrimination towards accented Englishes around the world.
