Do syllable-specific tonal probabilities guide lexical access? Evidence from Mandarin, Shanghai and Cantonese speakers

Encoding lexical tones in jTRACE: a simulation of monosyllabic spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese

“…As can be discerned from the figure, we observed an interaction between syllable frequency and tonal probability: The trajectory of looks to target in the FH–PH condition is indistinguishable from the trajectory for the FH–PL condition, yet the FL–PH condition shows a slight advantage as compared to the FL–PL condition. This interaction is in the same direction as that reported by Wiener and Ito (2014), suggesting that TRACE-T is sensitive to this pattern of effects.…”

“…To do this, we simulated two additional visual world paradigm experiments inspired by previously published studies (e.g., Wiener & Ito, 2014). In the first simulation, we looked at the resolution of tonal competition for different tonal contrast pairs.…”

“…For example, in Mandarin the tonal probability of tone 1 for the syllable bao is defined as the frequency of bao1 divided by the summed frequency of bao1, bao2, bao3, and bao4 . Recently, Wiener and Ito (2014) performed a visual world paradigm experiment in which high and low frequency target syllables were presented with segmental competitors. Importantly, the authors manipulated the tonal probability of the targets and competitors, such that the targets were high in probability and the competitors were low in probability, or vice versa.…”

“…To simulate this experimental effect, we devised a set of stimuli similar to those used in Wiener and Ito (2014) with some minor modifications. Using the Modern Chinese Frequency Dictionary (Beijing Language Institute, 1986), we selected syllables with either high or low logarithmic frequency (high = above 3.88, low = below 3.09; note that the mean logarithmic frequency of all items in the dictionary was 3.34), and then chose either high or low probability tones for each syllable (high = between 60 % and 90 %, low = between 5 % and 15 %).…”

Cross-linguistic psycholinguistics and its critical role in theory development: early beginnings and recent advances

“…This points to strong influence from the learner's native language during artificial language learning (for discussion, see also Fedzechkina, Newport, and Jaeger, accepted for publication) and relativises what can be concluded about the universality of the bias against non-local dependencies. Wiener and Ito (2014) investigate the role of tone in word recognition in three Chinese dialects. The importance of suprasegmental information in word recognition varies by language, and it is believed that tones play a more significant role in tone languages than stress does in other languages.…”