Acquisition of L2 Japanese WH questions: Evidence of phonological contiguity and non-shallow structures

Abstract

In this article we look at some of the structural properties of second language (L2) Japanese WH questions. In Japanese the WH words are licensed to remain in situ by the prosodic contiguity properties of the phrases which have no prosodic boundaries between the WH word and the question particle. In a rehearsed-reading, sentence production task, we look to see whether non-native speakers of Japanese who are learning the L2 in university classes in North America are able to acquire grammars which are constrained by such universal properties as Match Theory and Contiguity Theory. While linear mixed effects analyses of the pitch contours reveal that the L2ers have not acquired the phonetic implementation distinction of the documented pitch boost on WH words compared to non-WH DPs, our data show that the participants have acquired the pitch compression patterns indicative of having no prosodic phrases intervening between the WH word and the question particle. This property of Japanese WH questions is not taught in their classes, and, thus we argue, that the data are supportive of the position that interlanguage grammars are constrained by universal grammatical properties such as the prosodic contiguity of WH-phrase licensing. We also present these results as being counter to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis.

Utterance variation and its stylistic features in Japanese language education using the dominant relevance approach

“…Japanese language teachers, as the subject of carrying out Japanese language education must continuously improve their cross-cultural education ability to be able to effectively deepen the students' thinking about cultural differences, broaden the students' understanding of Japanese culture, and master the difficulties of cultural cognition in the learning of the Japanese language [4]. For this reason, Japanese teachers need to actively study Japanese culture, deeply understand the differences and similarities between Chinese and Japanese cultures, and explore excellent teaching modes to infiltrate them into the process of Japanese language teaching, establish the relationship between language and culture, so that the students can master the scientific way of learning Japanese, and improve the effectiveness of Japanese language learning [5][6]. At the same time, constantly innovate teaching concepts and methods while explaining theoretical knowledge, create a relaxed and open classroom environment, encourage students to use oral expression, and organize a variety of forms of Japanese communication and practice activities to provide students with a wealth of opportunities to express themselves, to strengthen the Japanese oral skills, and to understand the impact of cultural differences on language expression in practice [7].…”