Regional Stereotypes and the Perception of Japanese Vowel Devoicing 201¿ ndings (1981). The limited phonological environments and varieties of social
factors in these earlier reports must be considered, however, and extensive
production data in Kinki must be collected and examined carefully, but
Fujimoto’s (2004) results may also indicate evidence of linguistic change.
Table 7.18 Results by Age of the Respondent (Tokyo)
Age Group Weight
23–29, 30–39 (middle) 0.517
18–22, 40–49 (youngest and oldest) 0.469Table 7.19 Results by Age of the Respondent (Kinki)
Age Group Weight
23–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59 (middle and oldest) 0.506
18–22 (youngest) 0.468- Conclusion
Two main points should be made.
1.) Devoicing variation contributes to respondent judgment, but the iden-
ti¿ cation strategy comes principally from stereotypes rather than from knowl-
edge of actual regional patterns of devoicing and nondevoicing.
2.) The Tokyo results by gender of the speaker, gender of the respondent, and
age of the respondent all suggest that vowel devoicing is an indicator of standard
speech associated with Tokyo and that nondevoicing is a nonstandard form.
Additionally, the Kinki results are inconsistent in many cases because
devoicing is not such a good clue for Kinki people in judging a speaker as
“non–Kinki.” The general belief that Kinki people do not devoice may come
from lower devoicing rates in some phonological environments rather than in
the most general ones.
In order to have clear interpretation of the results of this experiment and to
make legitimate comparisons of production and perception of devoicing between
Tokyo and Kinki Japanese, it is essential to obtain a large amount of production
data, taking into account both phonological environments and social factors.
References
Fujimoto, Masako. 2004. Boinchô to boin no museika no kankei: Tokyo hôgen washa to
Osaka hôgen washa no hikaku [Relationship between length of the vowel and devoic-
ing: Comparisons between Tokyo speakers and Osaka speakers]. Kokugogaku 55 (1).