Discrimination of Cantonese Tones by Speakers of Tone and Non-tone Languages

Qin, Zhen; Mok, Peggy P. K.

doi:10.17161/kwpl.1808.12864

“…Qin and Mok (2013) observed that although Mandarin listeners distinguished the Cantonese contour-level tones well, they often confused the three level tones even more than English listeners. However, this observation was limited to a small sample.…”

Section: The Use Of F0 In Cantonese Mandarin and Englishmentioning

confidence: 93%

Does Second Language Experience Modulate Perception of Tones in a Third Language?

Qin

¹

,

Jongman

²

2016

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It is unclear what roles native language (L1) and second language (L2) play in the perception of lexical tones in a third language (L3). In tone perception, listeners with different language backgrounds use different fundamental frequency (F0). While English listeners use F0 height, Mandarin listeners rely more on F0 direction. The present study addresses whether knowledge of Mandarin, particularly as an L2, results in speakers' reliance on F0 direction in their perception of L3 (Cantonese) tones. Fifteen English-speaking L2 learners of Mandarin constituted the target group, and 15 English monolinguals and 15 native Mandarin speakers, with no background in other tonal languages, were included as control groups. All groups had to discriminate Cantonese tones either by distinguishing a contour tone from a level tone (F0 direction pair) or a level tone from another level tone (F0 height pair). The results showed that L2 learners patterned differently from both control groups by using F0 direction as well as F0 height under the influence of L1 and L2 experience. The acoustics of the tones also affected all listeners' discrimination. When L2 and L3 are similar in terms of the presence of lexical tone, L2 experience modulates the perception of L3 tones.

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“…Given the differences and similarities between the tonal systems in the two languages, it is predicted that Mandarin listeners will not have difficulty perceiving Cantonese T1 and T2, but they will have great difficulty distinguishing the three Cantonese level tones. Qin and Mok (2013) observed that although Mandarin listeners distinguished the Cantonese contour-level tones well, they often confused the three level tones even more than English listeners. However, this observation was limited to a small sample.…”

Section: The Use Of F0 In Cantonese Mandarin and Englishmentioning

confidence: 93%

Does second language experience modulate perception of tones in a third language?

Qin

¹

,

Jongman

²

2014

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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It is unclear what roles native language (L1) and second language (L2) play in the perception of lexical tones in a third language (L3). In tone perception, listeners with different language backgrounds use different fundamental frequency (F0). While English listeners use F0 height, Mandarin listeners rely more on F0 direction. The present study addresses whether knowledge of Mandarin, particularly as an L2, results in speakers' reliance on F0 direction in their perception of L3 (Cantonese) tones. Fifteen English-speaking L2 learners of Mandarin constituted the target group, and 15 English monolinguals and 15 native Mandarin speakers, with no background in other tonal languages, were included as control groups. All groups had to discriminate Cantonese tones either by distinguishing a contour tone from a level tone (F0 direction pair) or a level tone from another level tone (F0 height pair). The results showed that L2 learners patterned differently from both control groups by using F0 direction as well as F0 height under the influence of L1 and L2 experience. The acoustics of the tones also affected all listeners' discrimination. When L2 and L3 are similar in terms of the presence of lexical tone, L2 experience modulates the perception of L3 tones.

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“…In contrast, Mandarin listeners are more sensitive to pitch contour than pitch height [44][45][46][47]. Specifically, Mandarin listeners had a great difficulty distinguishing (e.g., Cantonese) level-level tonal contrasts [35,[48][49][50][51].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

Qin

¹

,

Zhang

²

2019

Preprint

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1

0

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Sleep-mediated overnight consolidation was found to facilitate perceptual learning by promoting learners' generalization across talkers in their perception of novel segmental categories. Lexical tone differs from most segmental contrasts in that it is highly variable across talkers, and displays dynamic change over time. It remains unclear whether a similar (or a larger) effect of overnight consolidation would be found for perceptual learning of novel tonal contrasts. Thus, this study aims to examine whether overnight consolidation facilitates generalization across talkers in the discrimination and identification of novel Cantonese level tones by Mandarin listeners. Two groups of Mandarin listeners were perceptually trained either in the morning or in the evening.Listeners were trained in a tone identification (ID) task using stimuli produced by a trained talker.Their development was then tested in the ID and AX discrimination tasks using stimuli produced by trained and untrained talkers in three posttests following training: immediately after training, 12-hour delay, and 24-hour delay. While the evening group slept between the first and second posttests, the morning group did not. The results of accuracy rates in the ID task showed that while Mandarin listeners trained in the evening showed an improved trend, predicted by their individual sleep time, in identifying the level tones produced by both the trained and untrained talkers, Mandarin listeners trained in the morning showed a declining trend. In contrast, the results of d-prime scores in the AX discrimination task did not show different developmental patterns between the two groups. Consistent with previous studies on segmental learning, the finding suggests that overnight consolidation might have assisted the evening trainees' formation of a more abstract (talker-independent) representation of novel tone categories in memory traces.The results are discussed regarding the features of lexical tones to shed light on the mechanism of phonetic learning.

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Discrimination of Cantonese Tones by Speakers of Tone and Non-tone Languages

Cited by 22 publications

References 48 publications

Does Second Language Experience Modulate Perception of Tones in a Third Language?

Does Second Language Experience Modulate Perception of Tones in a Third Language?

Does second language experience modulate perception of tones in a third language?

The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

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