La production et la perception des voyelles orales françaises par les apprenants japonophones
Takeki Kamiyama.

In order to examine the production and perception of French oral vowels by native speakers of Japanese learning French as a foreign language, a series of experiments were conducted. First, 10 isolated oral vowels pronounced by 4 native speakers of French (2 male and 2 female) were identified by 5 Japanesespeaking learners. Second, the formant frequencies were measured for the vowels that were 1) read, and 2) repeated after native speakers' recordings, by 3 learners. The results suggest that it is difficult to perceive and produce in a native-like manner not only "new" vowels (front rounded series) but also a "similar" one (such as the French high back vowel /u/: Flege [3]), as well as open-mid / close-mid oppositions.