Acquisition of L2 Mandarin Chinese tones with learner-created tone visualizations

L2 Acquisition and Processing of Mandarin Tone

Attention redistribution and segment-tone integration in Mandarin tone acquisition by L2 learners

This study investigates how beginning and advanced Dutch learners of Mandarin process Mandarin tonal information. An ABX matching to sample task is adopted to investigate the discrimination of tonal pairs, the redistribution of attention between segmental and suprasegmental information, and the integrality of segmental and suprasegmental dimensions. Results show a clear developmental path in to...

The Application of the Speech Learning Model to the L2 Acquisition of Mandarin Tones

One major hypothesis of the Speech Learning Model (SLM) is that if the sounds in the second language (L2) are dissimilar to the learners’ first language (L1), learners are more likely to form new phonetic categories for these sounds after receiving sufficient L2 input and achieve native-like proficiency. As for the L2 sounds that are similar to the L1, learners often equate them with L1 categor...

Mandarin Chinese tone nucleus detection with landmarks

This paper discusses a new approach to improve tone recognition by modeling the tone nucleus with vowel landmark detection. The tone nucleus region is identified based on vowel landmark frames derived by an automatic landmark recognition system. In the corresponding tone recognition experiments, the best results with landmark-based tone nucleus regions outperform the best baseline system result...

An Online Perceptual Test of Mandarin Chinese Tones by L2 Learners of Tonal vs. Nontonal Languages

The principal aim of the online Mandarin Chinese perceptual test is to understand how learners of Mandarin Chinese identify the language’s four tones and its correlated factors. There are many factors involved in successfully learning a second language. Therefore, aside from a learner’s L1 language and prior experience, his/her attitude and motivation also contribute to L2 learning. That may be...