%0 Journal Article
%T Lexical accent perception in highly
%A Katsuo Tamaoka
%A Seth J Goss
%J Second Language Research
%@ 1477-0326
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0267658318775143
%X This article reports empirical findings on the roles of domain-general resources and language-specific experience in the second language (L2) acquisition of Japanese lexical pitch accent. Sixty-one advanced-proficiency L2 Japanese learners from two first languages (L1s), Mandarin Chinese and Korean, identified and categorized Japanese nouns embedded in short sentences in two aurally-presented tasks. Mixed effects models showed that although the tonal-language Chinese group outperformed non-tonal Korean speakers, L2 lexical knowledge, but not overall proficiency or learning experience, predicted performance on both perception tasks regardless of L1, suggesting that long-term knowledge of L2 phonological structure facilitates perception of lexical-level prosody. Domain-general resources, however, played no predictive role in advanced learners¡¯ accent perception. A decision-tree analysis then revealed further divergence in perception accuracy by accent pattern, L1, and task type. Taken together, the results establish a close connection between language learning experience and L2 speech perception at the advanced level, and highlight the complexity inherent in the learning of non-native prosodic categories
%K cross-linguistic perception
%K individual differences
%K Japanese
%K lexical accent
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0267658318775143