Foreign Accent in Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese: Perceptual Evaluation of Modified and Unmodified Speech(<Feature Articles>Disordered Speech and Normal Utterance)

Abstract

Perceptual evaluation was performed by native speakers for Japanese sentences read by Japanese-descent Brazilians (L2) and native Japanese speakers (L1), and for Portuguese sentences read by native Japanese speakers learning Portuguese (L2) and Japanese-descent Brazilians (L1). For both languages, detection of a foreign accent was more difficult in the stimulus with its spectral properties removed (representing prosodic features) than in the stimulus with its F₀ flattened (representing segmental features), and was easiest in unmodified speech. Correlations were found between perception scores for modified and unmodified speech. Acoustic analysis suggested that speakers may bring their F₀ characteristics of L1 into L2 speech, and showed that speaking rate was correlated with perception scores. It is concluded that foreign accents in both languages share some properties, as mentioned above, but also have some differences.