title: Japanese listeners' perceptions of phonotactic violations.
abstract: The canonical form for Japanese words is (Consonant)Vowel(Consonant) Vowel-. However, a regular process of high vowel devoicing between voiceless consonants and word-finally after voiceless consonants results in consonant clusters and word-final consonants, apparent violations of that phonotactic pattern. We investigated Japanese adults' perceptions of these violations, asking them to rate both canonical and noncanonical nonsense forms on a scale of goodness. Results indicate that adults show evidence of being guided in making their judgments by an implicit understanding of both typical canonical forms and appropriate contexts for vowel devoicing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. lfais@psych.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fais
authors.forename: Sachiyo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kajikawa
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Werker
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D013067:Speech Perception