Impoverished acoustic input triggers probability-based tone processing in mono-dialectal Mandarin listeners

Wiener, Seth; Ito, Kiwako

doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2016.02.001

Cited by 19 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Because our stimuli did not control the sonority of the syllable onset, we do not examine tone accuracy at early gates or between tone type accuracy (cf. Wiener & Ito, ). Confidence intervals (95% CIs) revealed that native speakers were most accurate [0.99, 1.00], followed by L2 learners at Test 2 [0.79, 0.84], with L2 learners at Test 1 least accurate [0.71, 0.77].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the stimuli used in Wiener and Ito (, ) were deemed too difficult for L2 learners, a new set of 48 syllable–tone combinations were created (see Appendix S1 in the Supporting Information online). Items included 24 unique CV(N) syllables, with N indicating an optional nasal coda.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous gating study, Wiener and Ito () tested how much of the acoustic signal was needed for L1 Mandarin speakers to trigger learned statistical regularities and report expected syllables and tones in accordance with their prior linguistic experience. Participants heard either a high or low token frequency syllable with a tone that was either most or least probable for the syllable given the 33.5‐million‐word corpus SUBTLEX–CH (Cai & Brysbaert, ).…”

Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study made use of the gating paradigm to examine to what degree the statistical information that naturally unfolds in an instructed L2 Mandarin classroom affects learners’ identification of truncated speech. To accomplish this, we modified Wiener and Ito's () gating stimuli. This ensured that the tested L2 learners were familiar with all potential items.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Statistical Regularities Affect the Perception of Second Language Speech: Evidence From Adult Classroom Learners of Mandarin Chinese

2019

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This study investigated how adult second language (L2) learners of Mandarin Chinese use knowledge of phonological and lexical statistical regularities when acoustic information is insufficient for word recognition. A gating task was used to test intermediate L2 learners at two time points across a semester of classroom learning. Native Mandarin speakers (tested once) served as a control group. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that upon hearing truncated speech, L2 learners, like native speakers, identified high token frequency syllable-tone combinations more accurately than low token frequency syllable-tone combinations. Error analysis of correct syllable/incorrect tone responses revealed that native speakers made specific probability-based errors. L2 learners primarily demonstrated more acoustic-based errors but exhibited a trend toward greater probability-based errors during the second test. These findings are interpreted in light of L2 speech learning models that emphasize a statistical learning mechanism.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Statistical Regularities Affect the Perception of Second Language Speech: Evidence From Adult Classroom Learners of Mandarin Chinese

2019

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“…CV syllables varied in token frequency, co‐occurrence with tone type, and number of tonal homophones. Unique to our experimental design, the stimuli replicated the natural syllable–tone asymmetry, syllable neighborhood density, and syllable–tone homophone density that L2 learners (and L1 speakers) are exposed to in spoken Mandarin (see DeFrancis, ; Duanmu, , , and Wiener & Ito, , , for additional information). This included homophonous items that were differentiated only by their visual form (analogous to English /tu/ as “two,” “to,” and “too”).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Explicit Instruction and High Variability Phonetic Training Improve Nonnative Speakers’ Mandarin Tone Productions?

Wiener

Chan

Ito

2020

The Modern Language Journal

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This study examines the putative benefits of explicit phonetic instruction, high variability phonetic training, and their effects on adult nonnative speakers’ Mandarin tone productions. Monolingual first language (L1) English speakers (n = 80), intermediate second language (L2) Mandarin learners (n = 40), and L1 Mandarin speakers (n = 40) took part in a multiday Mandarin‐like artificial language learning task. Participants were asked to repeat a syllable–tone combination immediately after hearing it. Half of all participants were exposed to speech from 1 talker (low variability) while the other half heard speech from 4 talkers (high variability). Half of the L1 English participants were given daily explicit instruction on Mandarin tone contours, while the other half were not. Tone accuracy was measured by L1 Mandarin raters (n = 104) who classified productions according to their perceived tonal category. Explicit instruction of tone contours facilitated L1 English participants’ production of rising and falling tone contours. High variability input alone had no main effect on participants’ productions but interacted with explicit instruction to improve participants’ productions of high‐level tone contours. These results motivate an L2 tone production training approach that consists of explicit tone instruction followed by gradual exposure to more variable speech.

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Foreign Accent in Second Language Mandarin Chinese

Pelzl

2021

Prosody, Phonology and Phonetics

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Impoverished acoustic input triggers probability-based tone processing in mono-dialectal Mandarin listeners

Cited by 19 publications

References 56 publications

Statistical Regularities Affect the Perception of Second Language Speech: Evidence From Adult Classroom Learners of Mandarin Chinese

Statistical Regularities Affect the Perception of Second Language Speech: Evidence From Adult Classroom Learners of Mandarin Chinese

Do Explicit Instruction and High Variability Phonetic Training Improve Nonnative Speakers’ Mandarin Tone Productions?

Foreign Accent in Second Language Mandarin Chinese

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