The tone atlas of perceptual discriminability and perceptual distance: Four tone languages and five language groups

Liu, Liquan; Lai, Regine; Singh, Leher; Kalashnikova, Marina; Wong, Patrick C. M.; Kasisopa, Benjawan; Chen, Ao; Onsuwan, Chutamanee; Burnham, Denis

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105106

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Nonetheless, it is possible that the two Cantonese contrasts tested here were perceptually salient for infants, and that a contrast effect may become apparent with contrasts from tone languages other than Cantonese. This possibility is suggested by a recent comprehensive study of the psychoacoustic properties of tones on adult tone discrimination (Liu et al., 2022), but this evidence is not yet available for infants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross‐linguistic, multi‐lab report

Kalashnikova,

Singh,

Tsui

et al. 2023

Developmental Science

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We report the findings of a multi‐language and multi‐lab investigation of young infants’ ability to discriminate lexical tones as a function of their native language, age and language experience, as well as of tone properties. Given the high prevalence of lexical tones across human languages, understanding lexical tone acquisition is fundamental for comprehensive theories of language learning. While there are some similarities between the developmental course of lexical tone perception and that of vowels and consonants, findings for lexical tones tend to vary greatly across different laboratories. To reconcile these differences and to assess the developmental trajectory of native and non‐native perception of tone contrasts, this study employed a single experimental paradigm with the same two pairs of Cantonese tone contrasts (perceptually similar vs. distinct) across 13 laboratories in Asia‐Pacific, Europe and North‐America testing 5‐, 10‐ and 17‐month‐old monolingual (tone, pitch‐accent, non‐tone) and bilingual (tone/non‐tone, non‐tone/non‐tone) infants. Across the age range and language backgrounds, infants who were not exposed to Cantonese showed robust discrimination of the two non‐native lexical tone contrasts. Contrary to this overall finding, the statistical model assessing native discrimination by Cantonese‐learning infants failed to yield significant effects. These findings indicate that lexical tone sensitivity is maintained from 5 to 17 months in infants acquiring tone and non‐tone languages, challenging the generalisability of the existing theoretical accounts of perceptual narrowing in the first months of life.RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS This is a multi‐language and multi‐lab investigation of young infants’ ability to discriminate lexical tones. This study included data from 13 laboratories testing 5‐, 10‐, and 17‐month‐old monolingual (tone, pitch‐accent, non‐tone) and bilingual (tone/non‐tone, non‐tone/non‐tone) infants. Overall, infants discriminated a perceptually similar and a distinct non‐native tone contrast, although there was no evidence of a native tone‐language advantage in discrimination. These results demonstrate maintenance of tone discrimination throughout development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross‐linguistic, multi‐lab report

Kalashnikova,

Singh,

Tsui

et al. 2023

Developmental Science

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“…Evidence for perceptual narrowing for lexical tones is mixed. Some studies have demonstrated age-related decline in sensitivity to tones in nonnative learners, while others have reported age-related facilitation in tone sensitivity in nontone language-learning infants (for a review of this literature, see Liu et al, 2022), suggesting mixed evidence for perceptual narrowing of tones. A representative theory of perceptual narrowing must incorporate vowels, consonants, and tones as constituents of human language, which requires greater linguistic inclusivity in empirical studies.…”

Section: R E Pr E Se N Tat Ion Of Phon Et Ic Con T R a St Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and representation in studies of infant perceptual narrowing

Singh

Rajendra

Mazuka

2022

Child Dev Perspectives

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In 1971, Peter Eimas and his colleagues published a remarkable discovery in the journal Science: Infants as young as 1 month could distinguish sounds of human languages (Eimas et al., 1971). This influential finding ushered in a new scientific era in which developmental researchers began to examine linguistic sensitivities in young infants months before they produced their first word. Thereafter, a substantial body of research has reaffirmed that very young infants are equipped with keen perceptual sensitivities, discriminating a wide range of sounds with minimal linguistic experience (Werker, 2018). As a result, the textbook interpretation of this research-that "[i]nfants can discriminate essentially all the sound contrasts languages use" (Hoff, 2005, p. 107)-prevails in the field today.From this initial state of openness, infants' sensitivities change over the first year of life. Famously demonstrated by Werker and Tees (1984), 6-to 8-month-olds learning English discriminated unfamiliar Hindi sounds that are not used to contrast words in English. Between 8 and 10 months, this ability declined, and by 10 to 12 months, English-learning infants no longer distinguished Hindi sounds; however, Hindi-learning infants retained this sensitivity. This finding, now cited more than 3000 times, forms the backbone of a theory of perceptual narrowing of speech. The theory posits that in the first year of life, infants undergo an adaptive and functional shift in perception from universal sensitivities to language-aligned sensitivities, preparing them to learn their native language.

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“…Speech perception research has shown clear differences in the way that speech is perceived by tone and non-tone language learning infants (Fikkert et al, 2020) as well as by adults (Burnham and Singh, 2018;Liu et al, 2022). Such studies have demonstrated increased tonal sensitivity over the first year after birth for tone language learners and decreased sensitivity for non-tone language learners (Mattock and Burnham, 2006;Mattock et al, 2008;Yeung et al, 2013).…”

Section: Infants' Acquisition Of Tone Intonation and Emotion Carried ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such tone-intonation interaction in perception is not restricted to speakers of a tone language. Among non-tone language speakers, the component that stabilises the earliest, pitch register (Snow and Balog, 2002), can facilitate the perception of non-native tone contrasts (Liu et al, 2022). Non-tone language speakers' knowledge of intonation also appears to influence tone perception.…”

Section: Intonationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Tone, Intonation and Emotion Shape the Development of Infants’ Fundamental Frequency Perception

et al. 2022

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Fundamental frequency (ƒ0), perceived as pitch, is the first and arguably most salient auditory component humans are exposed to since the beginning of life. It carries multiple linguistic (e.g., word meaning) and paralinguistic (e.g., speakers’ emotion) functions in speech and communication. The mappings between these functions and ƒ0 features vary within a language and differ cross-linguistically. For instance, a rising pitch can be perceived as a question in English but a lexical tone in Mandarin. Such variations mean that infants must learn the specific mappings based on their respective linguistic and social environments. To date, canonical theoretical frameworks and most empirical studies do not view or consider the multi-functionality of ƒ0, but typically focus on individual functions. More importantly, despite the eventual mastery of ƒ0 in communication, it is unclear how infants learn to decompose and recognize these overlapping functions carried by ƒ0. In this paper, we review the symbioses and synergies of the lexical, intonational, and emotional functions that can be carried by ƒ0 and are being acquired throughout infancy. On the basis of our review, we put forward the Learnability Hypothesis that infants decompose and acquire multiple ƒ0 functions through native/environmental experiences. Under this hypothesis, we propose representative cases such as the synergy scenario, where infants use visual cues to disambiguate and decompose the different ƒ0 functions. Further, viable ways to test the scenarios derived from this hypothesis are suggested across auditory and visual modalities. Discovering how infants learn to master the diverse functions carried by ƒ0 can increase our understanding of linguistic systems, auditory processing and communication functions.

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The tone atlas of perceptual discriminability and perceptual distance: Four tone languages and five language groups

Cited by 11 publications

References 84 publications

The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross‐linguistic, multi‐lab report

The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross‐linguistic, multi‐lab report

Diversity and representation in studies of infant perceptual narrowing

How Tone, Intonation and Emotion Shape the Development of Infants’ Fundamental Frequency Perception

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