抄録
This study analyzes differences in the production and perception of the "deleted" English [t] for English-speaking and Japanese-speaking subjects. There is a widespread misconception that the [t] disappears in sentences such as "I can't teach" or "I can't come". However, the [t] does not actually diappear, but is rather replaced by a silence. The English [t] is implosive in fast speech in sentences such as "I can't go" - i.e. the plosion (release of air) of the [t] is replaced by a silent hold phase. For instance, there is only a short duration between the words "can" and "go" in the sentence "I..can..go", whereas this duration is significantly longer in the sentence "I..can't go". Japanese EFL learners often simply delete the plosion of the [t] without replacing it with silence. They are unaware of this intraoral release, and thereby misperceive/are misperceived when listening to or saying a phrase that includes deleted [t]'s such as the [t] after the auxiliary verb "can". The present experiment indicates that English speakers are significantly more uniform in their perception of duration cues for the 'deleted' [t] than Japanese subjects, and that the hold phase of the 'deleted' [t]'s is substantially longer for the English speaker than for the Japanese speaker. However, Japanese learners are able to acquire the correct timing for this prolonged hold after instruction and auditory input.
