Effect of Japanese articulation of stops on pronunciation of Chinese aspirated sounds by Japanese students

It is relatively easy for Japanese students studying Chinese to learn the pronunciation of the bilabial, alveolar, and velar groups of Chinese aspirated sounds compared to other sounds. We examined the voicing features for voice onset time and power during the utterance of Japanese stop consonants in bilabial, alveolar, and velar sounds, which are articulated in the same way as in Chinese. The sounds were uttered by 10 native Japanese who had not studied Chinese before. We then compared these features to the features of Chinese aspirated sounds uttered by 35 Japanese students, who had studied Chinese for one year, and eight native Chinese. The results showed that the features of the Japanese stops uttered by Japanese were similar to those for Chinese aspirated sounds. The features of the students´ utterances were also similar to those of the Chinese speakers. This similarity appeared to be one of the main factors in students achieving good grades for their pronunciation of these Chinese sounds compared to other sounds.