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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
Published on: September 27, 2024
Japanese listeners' perceptions of phonotactic violations
Laurel Fais1, Sachiyo Kajikawa, Janet Werker
1Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. lfais@psych.ubc.ca
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.
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