Japanese singleton and geminate stops mispronounced by non-native speakers

Non-native Japanese speakers often mispronounce Japanese singleton and geminate stops. However, it has been unclear how durations of speech segments in their mispronunciation differ from those of correct pronunciation by native Japanese speakers. This study analyzed mispronunciation of singleton and geminate stops by non-native speakers (8 English, 12 French, and 10 each of Korean, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese). Non-native speakers' mispronunciations were identified based on 10 native Japanese speakers' production boundary between singleton and geminate stops. It was revealed that when non-native speakers mispronounce a singleton stop as a geminate stop, stop closure is longer whereas its previous mora is shorter than in native speakers' correct pronunciation. Meanwhile, when non-native speakers mispronounce a geminate stop as a singleton stop, stop closure is shorter whereas its following mora is longer. These findings indicate that non-native speakers’ mispronunciations are caused not only by the dur...