Effects of Native Language on Perception of Level and Falling Tones
نویسندگان
چکیده
In this paper, we compare tone perception by speakers from different language backgrounds (L1s) including Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, and Indo-European languages such as English, French, and German. We focus on how two phonetic cues i.e., pitch height and pitch slope, affect perception of pitch direction. Significant differences are found in the degrees of sensitivity to the two cues across L1 groups.
منابع مشابه
Phonetic and Lexical Effects on Speech Perception of Falling Tones
This study investigates phonetic and lexical effects on speech perception of high-falling tones and low-falling tones in Hakka and Mandarin. An identification task and a lexical decision task were conducted on 30 participants for each language. The results illustrate that onset pitch and pitch drop are more crucial phonetic attributes than offset pitch for native speakers to distinguish high-fa...
متن کاملCategorizing Mandarin tones into listeners' native prosodic categories: the role of phonetic properties
Studies have shown that assimilating non-native tones to the categories of listeners’ native prosodic systems (e.g., tone, pitch-accent, and intonation) seems to be feasible (So, 2006; So and Best, 2008; So and Best, in press), and is consistent with the assumptions of the Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best, 1995, PAM). This raises an important question as to how adults perceive non-native lex...
متن کاملEffects of Tone Merging and Musical Training on Cantonese Tone Perception
This study investigates whether musical training can facilitate lexical tone perception of native speakers of a tone language. Some Cantonese tone pairs, T2/T5 (rising), T3/T6 (level), T4/T6 (falling vs level) are merging in recent years. The merging subjects have poorer general tone perception than the control subjects. Previous studies showed that musical training facilitates lexical tone per...
متن کاملPerception of intonation in Mandarin Chinese.
There is a tendency across languages to use a rising pitch contour to convey question intonation and a falling pitch contour to convey a statement. In a lexical tone language such as Mandarin Chinese, rising and falling pitch contours are also used to differentiate lexical meaning. How, then, does the multiplexing of the F(0) channel affect the perception of question and statement intonation in...
متن کاملThe perception study of Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 4by Hong Kong Cantonese speakers: The pitch effects
Mandarin has four lexical tones and Hong Kong Cantonese has six lexical tones. The pitch pattern of T1 and T4 in Mandarin is high level and high falling. According to the results of previous research, the pitch boundary of T1 and T4 by native speakers of Mandarin is categorical. Using the synthesized disyllable real words as stimuli, this paper aims to examine the identification and discriminat...
متن کامل