Perception of moraic and syllabic text-setting among Japanese native speakers and learners Rebecca L...
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- Perception of moraic and syllabic text-setting among Japanese
native speakers and learners Rebecca L Starr National University of
Singapore rstarr@nus.edu.sg Stephanie S Shih University of
California, Merced shih@ucmerced.edu LSA, Portland, Oregon January
2015 1
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- The Mora in Japanese Japanese = prototypical example of a
mora-based language e.g., kai.zen = [ka] [i] .[ze] [n] o Rhythmic
timing depends on mora units (Homma 1981; Port et al. 1987; cf.,
Beckman 1982) o Phonological/morphological implications: e.g.,
accent placement, compensatory lengthening o Traditional Japanese
poetry = mora counting e.g., haiku 5 7 5 mora form 2
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- Syllable usually treated as unnecessary or unimportant in
Japanese phonology. Labrune (2012) : no positive psycholinguistic
evidence for the cognitive reality of the syllable in Japanese. The
Syllable in Japanese? 3
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- Kubozono (1999; et seq.) : Japanese is (in part) a
syllable-based language. o accent placement, word formation, etc.
Inagaki et al. (2000) find that Japanese children show no mora
preference until they become literate: possible role of mora-based
orthography. The Syllable in Japanese? 4
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- Major lexical strata in Japanese (It and Mester 1999) : Yamato
(native Japanese) Ex: suki (to like) Sino-Japanese (Chinese origin)
Ex: ningen (human) Foreign (~85% English origin) Ex: benchi (bench)
Mimetic Ex: fuwafuwa (fluffy) Lexical Strata in Japanese 5
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- Strata characterized by different phonotactics, and
phonological rules (It and Mester 1999). o e.g., long a never
occurs in Sino-Japanese words. Because Chinese and English are
syllable-based, is it possible that the syllable is a more salient
unit in the Sino and Foreign strata? Alternatively, does widespread
knowledge of English contribute to increased salience of the
syllable in just the Foreign stratum? Lexical Strata in Japanese
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- Text-setting: the pairing of language and music in song.
Typologically, text-setting makes use of salient prosodic units
particular to a language. o English: syllables, lexical and phrasal
stresses (Halle & Lerdhal 1993; Shih 2008; Hayes 2009; a.o.) o
Cantonese: tonal melodies matched in musical melodies (Yung 1991)
Similar claims for metrical typology (Hanson and Kiparksy 1996)
Evidence from Text-Setting 7
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- Japanese text-setting: Claimed to operate as a mora-based
system (Kubozono 1999; Hayes and Swiger 2008; cf. Manabe 2009) =
each mora must receive (at least) one note. e.g., do.ra.go-n
bo-o.ru (Dragonball Z theme, 1989) x x x x x x x = 7 notes Evidence
from Text-Setting 8
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- BUT, multi-moraic notes show up frequently in modern Japanese
songs. Similar findings in poetry (Tanaka 2012) In these settings,
it is the syllable that receives one note. e.g., do- ra- gon boo-ru
x x x x x = 5 notes Evidence from Text-Setting 9
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- Our corpus study of Japanese songs found that syllabic settings
are prevalent throughout the lexical strata of Japanese. However,
syllabic settings were significantly more common in Foreign stratum
words than in Sino- Japanese and Yamato words. e.g., minto (mint)
is more likely to be min-to while minna (everyone) is more likely
to be mi-n-na. Corpus study: Starr & Shih (2014) 10
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- Corpus evidence suggests the syllable is a salient prosodic
unit in Japanese. Two key proposals: The traditional preference for
mora-based settings in Japanese song is a stylistic norm, not a
reflection of a lack of syllables. Knowledge of English is the most
likely factor behind the preference for syllabic settings in
Foreign stratum words. Corpus study: Starr & Shih (2014)
11
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- The corpus of Japanese songs reflects the behavior of expert
Japanese lyricists. What about ordinary Japanese listeners: do they
perceive moraic and syllabic settings as equally acceptable? Do
they prefer syllabic settings for Foreign stratum words? What about
ordinary native speakers? 12
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- Native speakers of English (and most other languages), where
the syllable is most salient, encounter a new prosodic system when
learning Japanese. Do learners of Japanese learn to attend to
moraic units? Do they learn to disprefer syllabic settings, which
are the default style of their native languages? What about
learners? 13
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- Perception experiment to test the judgments of native and
learner listeners. We want to test how ordinary listeners rate
various possible settings of Japanese lyrics to a melody.
Perception study 14
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- Novel methodology: Vocaloid Creating stimuli involving multiple
sung arrangements presents a challenge. We used Yamahas Vocaloid 3
software, which produces synthesized sung Japanese. 15 sakura
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- Factors Linguistic variables: Coda-N (e.g, mi-n-to vs. min-to)
ai (e.g., na-i-to vs. nai-to) Strata: Foreign vs. Sino-Japanese Not
possible to make minimal pairs with Yamato Selected near-minimal
pairs. Ex: benchi (bench) / bengi (convenience) 16
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- Factors Settings tested:its a mint Mora: mi-n-to da-yo
Syllable:min-to da-yo-ne Demi-Syllable(melisma):mi-in-to da-yo Bad
1 (too small):m-in-to da-yo Bad 2 (too large):mi-i-i-i-intodayo
17
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- Methodology Motsu-kun is learning to arrange lyrics to a
melody. Help him improve by rating his work! (minto dayone) Asked
to rate on 1-4 Likert scale. 18
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- Some Predictions Native listener preference for syllabic
settings will correspond to level of English exposure. Learners
will like syllabic settings more than native listeners do. Learners
will show more native-like rating patterns as they become more
proficient in Japanese. 19
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- Participants & Implementation 26 native Japanese speakers
Asked for frequency of English use 12 Japanese learners (Eng &
Chi native spkrs) Asked for length of Japanese study Survey
conducted online using Qualtrics. Still recruiting participants:
http://bit.ly/1oblYNz http://bit.ly/1oblYNz Data analyzed using
t-tests and linear mixed- model regression in R. 20
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- Ratings from native and nonnative listeners 21 **
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- Findings: native listeners Native listeners rated syllabic
(min-to) just as highly as moraic setting (mi-n-to) (p =.219).
Demi-syllabic (mi-in-to) was rated significantly lower than
syllabic (p =.0075). Why? In the demi-syllabic setting, there are 5
moras and 5 available notes, but the setting is not mora-based. In
contrast, in the syllabic setting, too many moras to fit into
available notes. Syllabic is the only option. Conclusion: o Native
listeners prefer a one-to-one correspondence between note and
prosodic unit, whether mora or syllable. 22
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- Findings: learners Overall, Japanese learners rate moraic,
syll., and demi-syll. settings as equally good. Moraic settings,
which do not occur in English and Chinese, are just as highly rated
as familiar syllable-based settings. Native and learner listeners
differ significantly on only the demi-syllabic setting. Lets break
this down by Japanese proficiency level. 23
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- 24 * *
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- Findings: proficiency level Learners pick up the moraic
segmentation pattern quickly, with beginner learners giving moraic
settings equally high ratings as native listeners. This is
surprising, in the sense that moraic segmentation is not found in
English or Chinese songs. As learners gain experience with
Japanese, their ratings of demi-syllabic settings move toward
native listener ratings. 25
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- Comparing the two variables 26 *
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- Differences between coda-nasal and ai Moraic and syllabic
settings are equally felicitous for both variables for all
listeners. Native listeners show a stronger dispreference for
demi-syllabic ai settings (e.g, na-ai-to) (p =.0288). In contrast,
they are relatively okay with demi- syllabic coda-nasal settings
(e.g., mi-in-to) (p =.1222). Coda nasal had more syllable-based
settings in corpus data. 27
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- Findings: English exposure among native listeners 28 * *
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- Surprise finding: more English exposure = more Japanese-like
judgments Native listeners who use English every day rate moraic
settings significantly more highly (p =.0212). Prescriptive norm,
perhaps correlated with higher education / social class. Natives
who use English less than monthly rate bad settings more favorably
(p =.0217): they are worse at this task. 29
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- Findings: lexical strata Contra corpus results, there is no
difference in the ratings for Foreign and Sino-Japanese words for
any of the settings, for natives or learners ( = 0.102, SE =
0.1115, t = 0.91). This is quite surprising: in the song corpora,
syllabic settings were preferred for Foreign words across multiple
lyricists and genres. 30
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- Conclusions Positive evidence for the cognitive reality of the
syllable in Japanese: Japanese listeners fully accept
syllable-based segmentation in contexts where moraic segmentation
is impractical. This is equally true for Japanese listeners who use
English less than monthly. 31
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- Conclusions Evidence supports our corpus study conclusion that
moraic text-setting is a prescriptive, stylistic norm in Japanese:
Native Japanese listeners who use English more show stronger moraic
preference. Relative acceptability of syllable-based settings does
not appear to result from exposure to syllable-based languages.
32
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- Conclusions Corpus analysis found that songs in a range of
genres show consistent difference between settings of Foreign and
Sino-Japanese stratum words, yet ordinary listeners show no such
difference in preferences. This suggests that the preference for
syllabic settings for Foreign words is stylistic, rather than a
result of some inherent prosodic structure difference. 33
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- Conclusions Learners acquire an understanding of moraic
segmentation quickly, but take longer to acquire dispreference for
demi-syllabic settings. Evidence that new prosodic systems are
acquirable as an adult. The quick acquisition of moraic
segmentation suggests that orthography indeed plays a crucial role
in the salience of the mora in Japanese. 34
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- Acknowledgements to Noriko Manabe, Reiko Kataoka, Roey Gafter,
Junko Ito, Mie Hiramoto, Yosuke Sato, Sakiko Kajino, Nala Lee, and
Jason Ginsburg for their input and assistance. . contact:
rstarr@nus.edu.sg shih@ucmerced.edu Thank you! 35
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- Future Work We have assumed that learners are acquiring a new
pattern when they give high ratings to moraic settings. But perhaps
native English and Chinese speakers who have never heard Japanese
before also like moraic settings, although they are unfamiliar. We
are working on this! 36
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