Cantonese tone word learning by tone and non-tone language speakers

Adult non-native perception is subject to influence from a variety of factors, including native language experience. The present research examines the effect of linguistic experience on non-native tone perception and tone word learning. Native Thai and English-speaking participants completed seven sessions of lexical identification training on words distinguished by Cantonese tones. A tone identification task was administered before and after training. Both groups had comparable tone identification accuracy; however, Thai listeners obtained greater tone word learning proficiency. The findings suggest that native language experience with employing pitch lexically facilitates the incorporation of nonnative tones into novel lexical representations.