Vowel length categorization in Arabic and Japanese : comparison of native Japanese and non-native learners' perception

This study examined the perception of short and long vowels in Arabic and Japanese by native Japanese (NJ) and nonnative learners of Japanese (NNJ). Ten Japanese vowels (5 short, 5 long) were given as response categories. As expected, the NJ listeners categorized the Japanese vowels more accurately than did the NNJ listeners (91 vs. 83%). Further, the NJ listeners tended to identify Japanese long vowels correctly more often than short vowels (93 vs. 88%), but the NNJ listeners did not show this pattern (82 vs. 84%). Both NJ and NNJ listeners assimilated short Arabic vowels to a wide range of Japanese vowels.4 page(s