Effects of pitch type and syllable position in identifying Japanese long and short vowels were examined for Japanese learners whose native language was either English or Korean. The subjects judged whether the stimulus included a long vowel and where in the stimulus the long vowel occurred. The English and Korean speakers showed similar effects of pitch and syllable position. The vowel labeled "H" (high pitch accent) tended to be perceived as long, whereas the vowel labeled "L" (low pitch) tended to be perceived as short. Pitch effects were more prominent in word final position than in non-final position and vowel identification was more difficult in word final position. Previous studies examined only duration effects, however, this study revealed that pitch also influences non-native listeners in their identification of long and short vowels.
