Acquisition of Japanese Accentuation by Japanese Language Learners and the Ibaraki Dialect Speakers of Japanese: On Its Similarities and Differences(<Feature Articles>Acquisition of Japanese accent on L1 and L2)

Abstract

This study investigates how Japanese accentuation is produced by Japanese language learners and the Ibaraki dialect speakers of Japanese. Hypothetical model is proposed for the process of production of Japanese accentuation by both participant groups. Through the results of analyses, it is found that both participants seem to produce the same interlanguage (interdialect) strategies, perhaps because their target is the same Tokyo dialect accentuation. However, the learners seem to employ some other strategies than accent, which affect their production of correct accent in informal situation, whereas Ibaraki dialect speakers do not, since they are native speakers of Japanese who have acquired their target language except accentuation.