1. 4. Prediction The FT/FA (Schwartz & Sprouse 1996) suggest that the initial state for L2 acquisition is the end state L1 grammar, and all L1 properties can be transferred into the interlanguage grammar. If ESJ start with the L1 foot structures, then… (i) they will initially have the structure (1a) for unaccented simple nouns, in place of (2a). (ii) they will initially have the structure (1b) for accented compounds, in place of (3b). Summary of the results -Elimination of Ft : Contradictory (pitch is OK, while intensity is NG) -Modification of PWd : Consistent (both pitch and intensity are OK) 7. Conclusion -Modification of prosodic constituents (PWds) is acquirable, whereas elimination of prosodic constituents (Ft) is more problematic, though not impossible. -This provides new evidence for FT/FA, suggesting that we must consider the nature of the constituents involved in order to determine the extent of transfer. Acknowledgements I am very grateful to my supervisor, Professor Heather Goad, for her expertise and support in every step of this study. I am also very thankful to my committee member, Professor Lydia White, for her guidance and valuable comments. References Haraguchi, S. (2001). Accent. In Tsujimura, N (Ed). The handbook of Japanese linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. Blackwell Reference Online. 16 June 2011. / Schwartz, B. & Sprouse, R. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research 12, 40-72. / Selkirk, O. (1986). On derived domains in sentence phonology. Phonology 3, 371- 405. / Shinohara, S. (2002). Metrical constraints and word identity in Japanese compound nouns. MIT working papers in Linguistics, 42, 311-328. 3. Japanese Pitch accents Japanese is a pitch accent language, in which the prominence is realized by a drop in pitch. The pitch falls from high(H) to low(L) after the accented mora. Pitch patterns of 4 mora nouns → J has words with no accent! 2. English English is a stress accent language. Stressed vowels typically have higher fundamental frequency (F0), longer duration and higher intensities. Compound stress N 1 stress is elevated to main prominence status of the whole compound, and the N 2 stress is downgraded to a secondary level. Prosodic hierarchy (Selkirk 1986) compound nouns Phonological Phrase (PPh) a. BLÁCKbòard Prosodic Word (PWd) b. WÓMAN dòctor Foot (Ft) Syllable (σ) 1. Research Question English and Japanese nouns have different prosodic structures. Can L1 English speakers of L2 Japanese (ESJ) acquire the Japanese prosodic structures? Contribution -Test (and support) the Full Transfer Full Access Hypothesis (FT/FA) in phonology. - Fills a gap in L2 acquisition research. (Prosody of compounds has been understudied ) McGill University L2 acquisition of Japanese noun accents by L1 English speakers Tokiko Okuma (CRBLM Department of Linguistics McGill University) tokiko.okuma@mail.mcgill.ca 3. Japanese Variations of compound accent positions a. Accent on the final syllable of N 1 : LH…H-LL ákita + inú → aki(tá-i)nu ‘Akita dog’ b. Accent on the first syllable of N 2 : LH…H-HLLL nó + nezumi → no-(nézu)mi ‘field mouse’ c. Unaccented LH…H-HH akagi + jamá → akagi-jama ‘Akagi mountain’ Default accentuation:the head of the bimoraic trochaic foot (Shinohara 2002) → J has compounds with no accent. When accented, the foot crosses over the N 1 N 2 boundary 5. The experiment Informants: ESJ (n=9, intermediate/advanced) and native J speakers Task: The informants read aloud simple and compound nouns a. Words in isolation ryokoo ‘traveling’ pan ‘bread’ usage ‘rabbit’ b. The novel compound + → usagi ‘rabbit’ pan ‘bread’ ( ? ) c. The carrier sentence （ ？ ） -ga arimasu ‘Here is a ( ? ) ’ -Nom is Production of the simple nouns in (b) and compounds in (c) were analyzed in Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2011). 3. Japanese Simple nouns Compound nouns (Unaccented) (Unaccented) (2a) (2b) (limited number) PWd PWd | | N N 1 N 2 (footless) (footless) ⇒ Can ESJ acquire unfooted simple nous (2a), which their L1 does not have? (elimination of Ft) 2. English Simple nouns Compound nouns (Stressed) (Stressed) (1a) (1b) PWd PWd PWd PWd | | | Ft Ft Ft | | | N N 1 N 2 BLÁCK bòard → Ft is obligatory in E! 3. Japanese Simple nouns Compound nouns (Aaccented) (Accented) (3a) (3b) PWd PWd | | Ft Ft | | N N 1 N 2 ⇒ Can ESJ acquire one-PWd compounds (3b), which differs from L1 compounds (1b)? (coordination of PWd) 6. Results Pitch results (height of sound) looks like successful, but misleading! Intensity results (loudness) - property simple nouns (2a) (Unaccented) Compounds (3b) (Accented) acquisition taskelimination of Ftmodification of PWd structure target-like PWd | N (footless) target-like PWd | Ft | N 1 N 2 Accuracy (%)81 74 property simple nouns (2a) (Unaccented) Compounds (3b) (Accented) structure non-target-like PWd | Ft | N target-like PWd | Ft | N 1 N 2 evidence ESJ still formed L1-like Ft when they pronounced nouns as unaccented Ft crossed the N 1 N 2 boundary. ESJ did not put pause on the boundary. SLP2012 University of York July 6 th 2012