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This paper proposes important parameters of prosody that differentiate the native English speakers from Japanese English speakers. In this research we explored the features of English pronunciation of both Japanese and native English speakers from a prosodic point of view. We carried out two experiments: 1) a discriminant analysis focusing on speech fundamental frequency (Fo), speech length, pause, duration and power of consonants and vowels. 2) Principal component analysis with the polygonal line approximation showing the prosodic feature of Fo. Then English utterances of Japanese English speakers and English native speakers were compared to identify effective prosodic parameters. The discriminant analysis with the proposed parameter this time could classify Japanese English speakers and English native speakers with correct discrimination rates of 77.5%. We found the power ratio of a vowel and a consonant useful to characterize the prosody of Japanese English speakers.

Then the parameter was extracted from the polygonal line which approximated Fo, and principal component analysis was conducted. As a result, Japanese English speakers and native English speakers were able to be classified into two categories about 80 percent by using the lower principal components to the 3rd principal components.