Japanese Prosody and Its Role in Comprehensibility: Exploration and Training

Shimada, Masako

Japanese Prosody and Its Role in Comprehensibility: Exploration and Training

dc.contributor.advisor	O'Brien, Mary
dc.contributor.advisor	Bratishenko, Elena
dc.contributor.author	Shimada, Masako
dc.contributor.committeemember	Cai, Wei
dc.contributor.committeemember	George, Angela
dc.contributor.committeemember	Flynn, Darin
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lee, Andrew
dc.date	2024-05
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-30T18:23:24Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-30T18:23:24Z
dc.date.issued	2024-04-25
dc.description.abstract	Prosody has gained attention in L2 pronunciation research due to findings indicating that prosodic features, such as rhythm, stress, duration, and changes in pitch, have a great influence on listeners’ understanding. In Study 1, I investigated how Japanese prosody affects intelligibility and comprehensibility, with the goal of advancing our understanding of L2 Japanese prosody, as it has seen limited progress thus far. In the study, deliberate speech errors involving vowel length, consonant length, and pitch accent were produced by Japanese and English learners of Japanese. Words with and without these prosody errors were then evaluated by Japanese listeners. Results show that intelligibility is significantly affected by a combination of segmental length and pitch accent errors, while comprehensibility is almost equally impacted by each prosodic feature, whether combined or independent. Furthermore, while there is no significant difference in intelligibility of speech produced by Japanese and English L1 speakers, there is a significant difference for comprehensibility, suggesting that processing L2 speech requires more effort. In Study 2, I designed prosody training for English learners of Japanese, with a focus on vowel length and pitch accent. The training incorporated two methods—embodied and computer-assisted techniques—which were compared to determine their effectiveness in training these features. The accuracy of L2 perception and production of the target features was examined at pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest, revealing a significant overall improvement regardless of the methods used. This highlights the positive effects of both methods, yielding results within a short timeframe. These findings shed light on the crucial role of prosody in Japanese in improving L2 intelligibility and comprehensibility, which can be achieved by focused instruction using embodied and computer-assisted techniques. These techniques can be readily used in language classrooms, empowering teachers to develop effective pronunciation instruction.
dc.identifier.citation	Shimada, M. (2024). Japanese prosody and its role in comprehensibility: exploration and training (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118560
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Japanese
dc.subject	prosody errors
dc.subject	pitch accent
dc.subject	segmental length contrast
dc.subject	intelligibility
dc.subject	comprehensibility
dc.subject	prosody training
dc.subject	focused instruction
dc.subject.classification	Education--Language and Literature
dc.subject.classification	Linguistics
dc.title	Japanese Prosody and Its Role in Comprehensibility: Exploration and Training
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Art
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.