Katsumi NAGAI (Kagawa University)
Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine whether vowel duration and lexical decision time differ between CnV, CnVC (voiced), and CnVC (voiceless) words. After presenting monosyllabic English and nonsense words with onset consonant clusters to Japanese learners of English and native English speakers, participants were asked to judge whether the test words were English words or nonsense words and pronounced the words. Their response time was measured, and their pronunciation was recorded to compare vowel durations. Their CVC test words had shorter vowels than CV words, and vowels preceding unvoiced consonants were shorter than vowels preceding voiced consonants. These effects were more conspicuous for native English speakers, though the same effects were detected for the Japanese speakers. Comparison of lexical decision time showed native English speakers responded quicker than Japanese speakers, and that nonsense words were more difficult to judge than English words for both English and Japanese speakers. No significantly high correlations were detected between learners’ English proficiency levels and their vowel durations or lexical decision time.