Volume 49, Issue 2

This account of the great variety of stops in the world’s languages shows that, apart from their place of articulation, these sounds can be described principally in terms of the activities that occur at three phases: onset, closure, and release. Other potentially contrastive features discussed include length, and the use of the glottalic airstream mechanism (other airstream mechanisms are not considered here). Phonologically only two phases – closure and release – are exploited; independent distinctions of features such as phonation type or articulatory manner cannot be found in the onset phase. We examine the combinatorial possibilities of the features that are used and discuss implications for phonological feature systems.

The stop closure durations and voice onset time of geminate and single voiceless stops in Japanese were examined with two groups of subjects: native Japanese and fluent Americans. The two groups were found to have different manners of timing control of these segments. The results indicated that the 10 native speakers distinguished between the geminate and single stops by controlling the closure durations in the mean ratio of 2.8:1.0, while the 4 fluent Americans pronounced the same tokens in diverse and random manners. The timing control of geminate and single stop consonants is a challenge for nonnative speakers who may either miss the contrast, or may pronounce geminate and single stops with the ratio of approximately 2.0:1.0.

The purpose of this research was to obtain information on the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) mean levels, variability and patterns of Japanese females and contrast them with those of Caucasian speakers of American English. To this end, 56 young women – 32 Japanese and 24 Americans – read standard passages in either or both the Japanese and English languages. It was found that the Japanese exhibited higher fundamental frequencies than did the Americans for all speaking conditions, and this contrast was statistically significant. Additionally -and unlike the American speakers – most Japanese women exhibited bimodal SFF distribution patterns. It is judged that the observed differences in level and distribution result primarily from differences in the structure of the two languages.