The Role of Vowel Quality in the Perception of English Lexical Stress by Native Speakers of English and Japanese

Abstract

This study examined the role played by vowel quality (VQ) in perception of lexical stress by native speakers of English (E-group) and Japanese (J-group). Suprasegmental (SP) parameters and VQ parameters were independently manipulated to make stimuli. The results showed E-group identified the stress location more inaccurately in SP-only, in which the stress pattern was generated using SP parameters alone, than in SP+VQ, in which the stress pattern was generated using both SP and VQ parameters. In contrast, J-group did not differentiate between SP-only and SP+VQ. These results demonstrated E-group used VQ as a cue, whereas J-group did not use it.