A Preliminary Study on Clause-Boundary Rising Intonation in Indonesian Learners of Japanese and the Effect of “He no Ji” Instruction

Abstract

This preliminary study investigates prosodic tendencies in Indonesian learners of Japanese, focusing on inappropriate rising intonation at clause boundaries in declarative sentences. Such patterns can reduce naturalness and are likely influenced by prosodic transfer from the learners’ first language. Nine Indonesian learners recorded five sentences containing special morae. While the initial aim was to examine segmental pronunciation errors, the most notable finding was rising intonation at non-final clause boundaries. To address this, learners were introduced to the he-no-ji intonation pattern through an instructional video. Post- instruction recordings showed a 59% decrease in rising intonation, suggesting that explicit prosody instruction can promote more natural speech. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating intonation teaching early in Japanese language education for Indonesian learners.