Phonetic characteristics of pseudo-Osaka dialect

Abstract

This study attempts to explore phonetic characteristics of the so-called pseudo-Osaka dialect, spoken by non-native Osaka dialect speakers. This dialect often makes native speakers feel uncomfortable because it includes the word forms and pitch patterns which are not usually found in the Osaka dialect. Many native speakers seem to dislike the accent and intonation patterns used in the pseudo-Osaka dialect, which seem to convey social functions that affect human relations. Native Osaka dialect speakers feel that the pseudo-Osaka dialect semantically and phonetically deviates from the traditional Osaka dialect and that their Osaka dialect is made fun of. The informants in the current study were 10 pseudo-Osaka dialect speakers who were born and raised in eastern part of Japan. They were asked to read 19 sentences aloud in their pseudo-Osaka dialect that they think of as Osaka dialect. The acoustic-phonetic analyses of the data indicated that 1) phrase intonation of common Japanese reflects negative transfer, 2) the speeches by non-native speakers do not distinguish between the pitch patterns of high-beginning and low-beginning, and 3) they also shift their accent falling mark intentionally.