Lexical Encoding of Length Contrasts in Learners of Japanese as a Second Language

Autor/in	Kojima, Chisato
Titel	Lexical Encoding of Length Contrasts in Learners of Japanese as a Second Language
Quelle	(2019), (186 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
ISBN	978-1-3921-6862-2
Schlagwörter	Hochschulschrift; Dissertation; Japanese; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Phonemes; Language Processing; North American English; Native Language; Auditory Discrimination; Correlation; Vowels; Decision Making; Task Analysis; Accuracy; Language Patterns; Pronunciation; Vocabulary; Language Tests + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Thesis; Dissertations; Academic thesis; Japaner; Japanisch; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Fonem; Sprachverarbeitung; Amerikanisches Englisch; Korrelation; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Aufgabenanalyse; Sprachmodell; Sprachstruktur; Aussprache; Wortschatz; Language test; Sprachtest
Abstract	Some contrasts in the second language (L2) impose difficulty in processing for learners, especially when these contrasts are not used phonemically in a learner's first language (L1). This thesis is to examine how American English speakers learning Japanese discriminate and store information regarding the L2 contrasts as a part of their lexicon (i.e. lexical encoding). The central discussion is on how length contrasts, both consonantal and vocalic (e.g. shita "under," "shitta" "came to know" and "shiita" "theta") are perceived and processed by learners. In addition, a relationship between geminate and long vowel were examined (e.g. "shitta" "came to know" and "shiita" "theta").Three experiments were conducted to test the learner's ability to discriminate and lexically encode (a) singleton vs. geminate consonant, (b) short vs. long vowel, and (c) geminate and long vowel. The first experiment was a discrimination task (ABX) to see whether learners can discriminate between these contrasts. The other two tasks were lexical decision and forced lexical choice (FLeC). These tasks implicitly require full lexical processing. The FLeC task is an innovative experimental paradigm that was introduced in this thesis in order to supplement the lexical decision task. The results from the ABX and lexical decision tasks indicated that there is a distinction between discriminating length contrasts and successfully encoding length contrasts as a part of Japanese words. The results from the lexical decision and FLeC tasks suggested that learners refer to the closest or most familiar L1 phoneme (i.e. singleton/short vowel) to process a new L2 phoneme. Thus, results exhibited an asymmetric lexical encoding pattern: lower accuracy rates were observed in test words with geminate or long vowel when compared to test words with singleton or short vowel. In contrast, higher accuracy rate was observed in test non-words with geminate or long vowel in comparison to the ones with singleton or short vowel. The results suggest that learners' representations for geminates and long vowels are less accurate than those for singleton consonants and short vowels, while also showing that learners are successfully maintaining L2 contrasts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] (As Provided).
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Update	2024/1/01