日語長久以來被歸類為以拍的韻律做為說話單位(Grabe & Low, 2002; Ramus, Nespor & Mehler, 1999)。許多的研究對此韻律特色做了許多的測試以及討論(Beckman, 1982; Port, Dalby, & O’Dell, 1987; Kubozono, 1989; Aoyama, 1999)。在此研究中，我們探討四組不同日語程度的實驗對象對六個日語的超音段現象，包括長短母音的長度、促音長度、說話速度、停頓頻率、停頓長度以及停頓分佈。這些因素可能導致口音或者影響語言流暢度。
此研究的實驗對象總共三十二位。其中八位為日語母語人士、八位通過日語能力檢定一級的臺灣學生、八位通過日語能力檢定二級的臺灣學生、以及八位通過日語能力檢定三級的臺灣學生。研究內容包括三個實驗。在母音長度的實驗中，所用的研究題材為十對日語最小對偶字，每一對各包括一個長母音以及一個短母音，每一個字都是兩個音節，而且由二或三個拍組成(Hirata, 2004)。在促音長度的實驗中，研究題材為八對日語最小對偶字。在語言流暢度的實驗中，研究題材為五個日語會話中節錄出的四種句型，每種句型有三句。最後，這些語料利用語音軟體PRAAT做音段切割。所有的數據經由統計軟體R做單因子變異數分析(One-Way ANOVA)及Tukey法做事後比較來呈現結果。
統計結果顯示日語語言程度對此六個探討的日語超音段現象都有顯著影響。在母音長度及促音長度的實驗中，通過日檢一級及二級的台灣學生比通過日檢三級的學生說話較相似於日語母語者。在語言流暢度的實驗中，日語母語者說話速度比臺灣學生快許多，言談中較少停頓，而且停頓的長度也較短。在停頓的分佈中，通過日檢三級的學生比通過日檢一級及二級的台灣學生更常停頓在不合句法結構的位置。整體而言，相較於通過日檢三級的學生，通過日檢一級及二級的台灣學生說得更正確也更相似於日語母語者。針對此結果，語言轉移(Odlin, 1989)可能是其一影響因素。最後，我們提出在日語學習以及教學上的建議以期日語學習者能夠學得更正確和標準。

Japanese had long been classified as mora-timed language (Grabe & Low, 2002; Ramus, Nespor & Mehler, 1999). Studies concerning Japanese mora-timing were very prevalent (Beckman, 1982; Port, Dalby, & O’Dell, 1987; Kubozono, 1989, and Aoyama, 1999). In this study, six Japanese suprasegmental features were discussed: vowel length, sokuon length, speech rate, pause frequency, pause duration, and pause distribution among four groups with different Japanese language proficiency. These suprasegmental elements could be factors which may contribute to foreign accent and different speech fluency.
The data were collected by interviewing with total thirty-two subjects. These were eight native Japanese speakers, eight Taiwanese students who had passed Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 1, eight for JLPT level 2, and eight for JLPT level 3. This study was composed of three experiments concerning temporal patterns. For vowel length distinction, the designed materials were ten minimal pairs of real Japanese words which were all disyllabic. Each pair contained short and long vowels and was composed of two or three moras (Hirata, 2004). For sokuon length distinction, the materials were eight minimal pairs of real Japanese words. For speech fluency, the materials were four types of Japanese sentences excerpted from five Japanese conversations. For each sentence type, three sentences were chosen. Finally, all the sound segmentation was conducted by PRAAT software. The statistical software R project was used for data entry and analysis. Statistical
procedures employed included one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests.
The results of the statistical analysis revealed significant effect for proficiency. In terms of vowel and sokuon length, the speech production of JLPT L1 & L2 was closer to natives more than JLPT L3. Regarding the speech fluency, the natives spoke much faster than non-natives and had much less number of pauses and shorter of pause duration. In regard to pause distribution, the group of JLPT L3 often located pauses at wrong locations in
syntactic structures more than JLPT L1 & L2. Overall, compared with participants with low linguistic proficiency, the results indicated that the performance of participants with high linguistic proficiency was more accurately and was more similar to natives. The influencing factors such as language transfer including overproduction and underproduction (Odlin, 1989) would be discussed. Finally, by examining the result of this study, we proposed suggestions for Japanese learning and teaching.

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