Japanese, Māori, NZ English: Prosodic comparison using delexicalized speech

Abstract

In this study we compare the prosody of Japanese with that of Māori and New Zealand English, the contact language, as impressionistic analysis of Māori and Japanese indicates prosodic similarities, despite many other differences. This may be due to the fact that proto-Japanese just like Māori stems from the Pacific region. However, Māori under the influence of English changed substantially. As an indirect way of comparing the prosody we devised a perception experiment using delexicalized speech employing Japanese listeners. Most listeners were able to differentiate between Japanese and NZ English, but did not place Māori closer to Japanese than English.