Australian English Back Vowel Perception by Korean and Japanese Learners of English

Abstract

This paper deals with perception of Australian English back vowels by Korean and Japanese learners of English. The results of the experiment revealed that although language-specific factors played a main role, language-universal factors, in particular with regard to the Australian vowel /ɒ/, also influenced the perception of L2 learners. Three models, the CAH, Flege's model and Best's model, did not provide a perfect prediction on the perception of Australian English back vowels by Korean and Japanese listeners.