The Features of Vowel /E/ Pronounced by Chinese Learners

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the features of the syllables including vowel /e/, /u/ and /ü/ which are pronounced by Chinese learners. How the pronunciation error of vowel /e/ being influenced by position of twosyllable word, tone as well as consonant is mainly discussed. As results, firstly it is understood that the position of twosyllable word does not affect the pronunciation of vowel /e/, and secondly, for tone, the pronunciation error rate is highest when the syllable is the third of tone. In order to objectively judge the pronunciation state, we used the value of the first formant frequency in the beginning, middle and ending part of vowel /e/. The proposed method is confirmed by obtaining 80.1% correct rate when comparing the pronunciations with perception result between native Chinese students and Chinese learners of Japanese students using 54 Chinese words. 