The Indexicality of Japanese-accented English among Japanese ELF Users

抄録

A considerable amount of literature has discussed the characteristics of Japanese-accented English (JAE) from the perspectives of World Englishes and second language acquisition. However, in everyday interaction, non-experts in linguistics or TESOL may rely on a limited number of phonetic features to identify a speaker’s L1 background. This study demonstrates that Japanese users of English as a lingua franca consider the conflation of /l/ and /r/ to be the most distinctive feature of JAE, along with divergences in suprasegmental aspects. Their awareness is in line with L1 English speakers’ perception of JAE, which is revealed by reanalysing a previous study conducted in New Zealand (NZ). That is, the /l/ and /r/ conflation serves as a major yardstick for both Japanese and NZ listeners in confirming a Japanese accent in speech. Nevertheless, the conflation may also be interpreted as a stereotype of JAE among Japanese learners of English, given that they are most likely to have read or heard about it in educational environments.