Pitch Characteristics of L2 English Speech by Chinese Speakers: A Large-scale Study

Abstract

AI-powered English learning apps are used by hundreds of millions of people across the globe on a daily basis. This presents a great opportunity for the study of L2 speech. On one hand, the amount of data accessible for research is very large and rapidly growing; on the other hand, new theories and understanding of L2 speech can be continually tested and revised through real-life and real-time applications. This paper presents a study of pitch characteristics of L2 English speech using a large-scale dataset from a language learning app. Our dataset contains 180,000 spoken utterances which amount to 240 hours of speech. The results show that compared to L1, L2 English has narrower pitch range and slower rate of pitch change, but more small "ripples" on the pitch contour. The percentage of F0 rise time is higher in L2, and the maximum F0 in an utterance is realized later (with respect to the onset of the word on which the maximum F0 resides). These results suggest that the influence of L1 on L2 prosody is more complex than previously demonstrated, and they shed light on L2 prosody assessment and learning.

Second language acquisition of Spanish prosody by Chinese speakers: Nuclear contours and pitch characteristics

“…In the present study, we found that compared to Spanish L1 speakers, Chinese learners tended to use higher pitch level (specifically higher minimum and mean F0), narrower span and less variable pitch in the L2. These results are in agreement with other preliminary studies on L2 speech which also documented a compressed pitch pattern for L2 speakers of different language backgrounds, and reported a similar trend towards improvement as their L2 experience increased (Busà & Urbani, 2011;Mennen, Schaeffler, & Docherty, 2009;Mennen, 1998;Peters, 2019;Shi, Zhang, & Xie, 2014;Ullakonoja, 2007;Urbani, 2012;Yuan et al, 2018;Zimmerer et al, 2014). As for the differences of F0 height, the higher pitch level observed in L2 intonation has been explained as a result of an increased cognitive effort when speaking a non-dominant language (Zimmerer et al, 2014).…”

“…The factor which accounts for these differences between L1 and L2 is mainly correlated with learners' unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge of rules in producing the final-syllable stressed words, particularly when they appear in the sentence-final position that requires compressed pitch movements. In such circumstances, learners may pay more attention to the pronunciation of words and reduce the use of F0 strategies in the L2 (Mennen, Schaeffler, & Dickie, 2014;Peters, 2019;Yuan et al, 2018;Zimmerer et al, 2014). Finally, with regard to gender effects, our results are congruent with previous findings which report that women use significantly higher pitch level and greater pitch variation than men.…”

“…For instance, Chen (1972) and Juffs (1990) reported that Chinese L2 learners had a narrower F0 span than native speakers of English. Recently, using a largescale dataset extracted from a language learning app, Yuan et al (2018) reconfirmed that, compared to that of native English speakers, the speech of Chinese L2 learners was characterized by a narrower pitch span, slower pitch change rate and more small "ripples" on the F0 contour. In addition, it was found that Chinese learners of L2 English and L2 German had higher values than native speakers in F0 span on the phoneme level, and in pitch change amount on the utterance level, due to the negative influence of L1 mandarin prosody (Ding, Hoffmann, & Hirst, 2016;Ding, Jokisch, & Hoffmann, 2012).…”

Cross-Linguistic Comparison of the Pitch and Temporal Profiles between L1 and Chinese L2 Speakers of Spanish

“…However, importantly, several studies have found that some deviated use of pitch is common in L2 speech, revealing itself as a consistent development trajectory during the L2 speech-learning process. For example, the results in previous literature (i.e., Busà & Urbani, 2011;Chen, 1972;Mennen, Schaeffler, & Dickie, 2014;Shi et al, 2014;Ullakonoja, 2007;Yuan et al, 2018) suggest that foreign speakers, regardless of their L1-L2 backgrounds, are often characterized by a narrower F0 range and less variable pitch when producing the L2 speech on the utterance level. In contrast, on the phonemic level, Chinese L2 speakers were reported to have a wider pitch span and smaller F0 fluctuations than native English speakers, mostly due to the negative attachment of L1 lexical tones to stressed syllables in the L2 (Ding et al, 2016;J.…”

How experience with tone in the native language affects the L2 acquisition of pitch accents

“…Particularly in the domain of tone languages, only few studies have examined the acquisition of L2 intonation by L1 speakers of a tone language (He et al, 2012;Yuan et al, 2018;Liu and Reed, 2021;Shang and Elvira-García, 2022). These studies revealed effects of L2 proficiency and cross-linguistic differences, but very few studies have provided direct comparisons between learners whose L1 is a tone language versus learners whose L1 is a non-tone language.…”