This paper reports results from a study investigating whether there is a perceptual difference between gesturally different Mandarin retroflexes. Previous studies have suggested that there are two articulatory manners for Mandarin retroflexes: One involves the tongue tip being “curled-up,” and the other the tongue body being “bunched-up.” Thus, by implementing a perception test on Taiwan Mandarin listeners and an acoustic analysis, the research determines whether retroflexes produced with these gestures will be perceived differently. The resultsdings then show that “curled-up” and “bunched-up” retroflexes are not perceptually contrastive at a phonological level. However, the latter are perceived to be phonetically more retroflexed, with such property of stronger retroflexion reflected in their lower M1 (first moment) values. These findings yield one pedagogical implication. The teaching of retroflex articulations can be made reference to the gesture with which Mandarin learners can produce with more ease.
Perceptual difference between the discomfort luminance level and the brightness of a head-mounted display (HMD)
