2018 Volume 10 Pages 1-15
This study aims to explore the acoustic features of Japanese geminate stop articulated by the native Cantonese speakers, and to reveal the condition of interference from the aspect of the entering consonant of Cantonese. Through doing a recording experiment, while comparing the Japanese geminate stop pronounced by native Japanese speakers with the Japanese geminate stop pronounced by native Cantonese speakers and native northern Chinese dialect speakers, the author analyzes the interference of the entering consonant in Japanese geminate stop of native Cantonese speakers based on the experimental results from aspects of the duration time of vowels and consonants.
The experimental results reveal that the acoustic features of Japanese geminate stop articulated by native Cantonese speakers are not reflected in the consonants but in the vowels. While dealing with the pattern of preceding vowels and subsequent vowels of Japanese geminate stop, the native Cantonese speakers are affected by the entering consonant of Cantonese. Therefore, they tend to use a pattern very similar to Cantonese. Especially for the subsequent vowels, the native Cantonese speakers get accustomed to lengthening them.
