Milli mála - 01.01.2010, Page 298
given the same name, both Japanese and Icelandic speakers tend to
show similar preferences.17
3.5 The length of the vowel in an accented syllable
13 tokens: Dagur, Elín, Eva, Gísli, Íris, Ívar, Jóhann, Ólafur, Saga,
Úlfhildur, Þór, Kristín, Hjördís
2 choices: /V/, /VV/ (/Vr/)
The accented syllable tends to be pronounced more strongly and for
longer in Icelandic. The vowel of the accented syllable sounds
longer, but it is uncertain whether or not the lengthening of the
vowel will be actually perceived and transliterated as one extra
mora beat in Japanese. The latter part of a long vowel /r/ in Japan -
ese consists of one mora, and makes a phonemic contrast, e.g. [o ba
a sa n] = grandmother, [o ba sa n] = aunt. This is one of the diffi-
cult language characteristics for learners of Japanese to acquire.
results
as Table 5.a shows, both Japanese and Icelandic subjects show a prefer-
ence for doubling vowel length in an accented syllable with an extra mora.
TranSLITEraTIng ICELanDIC naMES InTO JaPanESE …
298
17 It should be noted that names such as Erla and Karl, which have ‘r’ preceding the sound in
question, could be treated separately. However, from the data above, no clear tendency is
observed for these names.
!
1st year 2nd year 1st & 2nd year Japanese
/V/ 73 48 121 43
/VR/ (/VV/) 94 55 149 72
!
"#$%&!'(!#!
!
Figure 3. Change in the number of moras in an accented syllable of Ice landic
(transliterating from an Icelandic long vowel to two Japan ese monophthongs)
Table 5.a Choice of the pronunciation for the names that contain a vowel
in an accented syllable.
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