会津大学
語学研究センター音声学ラボ
担当教員：教授 ウィルソン・イアン (Ian WILSON), 教授 金子恵美子
【研究室の概要】
Our research focuses on experimental articulatory and acoustic phonetics. Using a variety of methods (e.g., ultrasound), we collect and analyze speech samples from native and non-native speakers of English, Japanese (including the Aizu dialect), Spanish, etc.
【研究室の具体的なテーマ】
Articulatory Setting
The underlying articulatory setting of a language is the default position of the tongue, lips and jaw when ready to speak, or between utterances. Because it is difficult to measure accurately, it has only been measured for English and French. We are now attempting to measure it accurately for Japanese-English bilingual speakers.
Crosslinguistic Study of Rhythm in Language
Languages vary in their segmental and prosodic structures; second language learners must learn articulation of these two types of non-native structures in order to communicate in a multilingual environment. Our focus is on the movement of the jaw and how it underlies rhythm in a language.
The Aizu Dialect of Japanese
The Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture has a number of interesting dialects, but they are endangered in the sense that young people are not speaking them. We have recorded, acoustically analyzed, and documented many samples of these dialects. Many of our audio samples, are available on our lab’s website.
【研究室のPR】
Speech is an incredibly interesting but complex phenomenon! We seem to magically acquire the pronunciation of our first language, but that of our second language is usually much more difficult. Why? How can we make it easier to acquire? What articulatory setting and rhythm underlies the pronunciation of a given language? We love to collaborate on research, so please contact us if you’re interested!