Observation of Lip Movements of Long Vowel Production in Japanese Children

Abstract

Japanese is recognized as a mora-timed language. Although little is known about the physiological mechanism of special morae, recent studies have elucidated the physiological properties of special morae, highlighting differences in articulatory movement compared to regular morae. In order to clarify how the articulatory movements of special morae were organized during the developmental course, this paper examined the production of long vowels in Japanese children, focusing on lip movements. The results revealed that, contrary to adults, children did not exhibit a greater degree of lip opening for long vowels. This suggests a potential influence of underdeveloped articulatory movements in language development.