PHONETIC INFLUENCES ON ENGLISH AND FRENCH LISTENERS’ ASSIMILATION OF MANDARIN TONES TO NATIVE PROSODIC CATEGORIES

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connie K. So ◽  
Catherine T. Best
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Prosodic Categories ◽  
Mandarin Tone

This study examined how native speakers of Australian English and French, nontone languages with different lexical stress properties, perceived Mandarin tones in a sentence environment according to their native sentence intonation categories (i-Categories) in connected speech. Results showed that both English and French speakers categorized Mandarin tones primarily on the phonetic similarities of the pitch contours between the Mandarin tones and their native i-Categories. Moreover, French but not English speakers were able to detect the fine-detailed phonetic differences between Tone 3 (T3) and Tone 4 (T4; i.e., low or low-falling tone vs. high-falling tone), which suggests that the stress differences between these languages may affect nonnative tone perception: English uses lexical stress, whereas French does not. In the discrimination task, the French listeners’ performance was better than that of the English listeners. For each group, discrimination of the Tone 1 (T1)–T4 and Tone 2 (T2)–T3 pairs was consistently and significantly lower than that of the other tone pairs, and the difference between T1-T4 and T2-T3 was significant. Discrimination of the Mandarin tone pairs was not fully predicted by pairwise categorizations to native i-Categories, however. Some discrimination differences were observed among tone pairs showing the same assimilation patterns. Phonetic overlaps in native i-Category choices for the Mandarin tones, strength of categorization (So, 2012), and tonal coarticulation effects (Xu, 1994, 1997) may offer possible accounts of these discrepancies between categorization and discrimination performance. These findings support the perceptual assimilation model for suprasegmentals (So & Best, 2008, 2010a, 2010b, 2011, 2013), extended to categorization of nonnative tone words within sentence contexts to native i-Categories.

Going beyond F0: The acquisition of Mandarin tones

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nari RHEE ◽  
Aoju CHEN ◽  
Jianjing KUANG
Keyword(s):  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Adult Level ◽  
Spectral Cues ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Mandarin Tone

Abstract Using a semi-spontaneous speech corpus, we present evidence from computational modelling of tonal productions from Mandarin-speaking children (4- to 11-years old) and adults, showing that children exceed the adult-level tonal distinction at the age of 7 to 8 years using F0 cues, but do not reach the high adult-level distinction using spectral cues even at the age of 10 to 11 years. The difference in the developmental curves of F0 and spectral cues suggests that, in Mandarin tone production, secondary cues continue to develop even after the mastery of primary cues.

scholarly journals Adaptation to syntactic structures in native and nonnative sentence comprehension

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDITH KAAN ◽  
CORINNE FUTCH ◽  
RAQUEL FERNÁNDEZ FUERTES ◽  
SONJA MUJCINOVIC ◽  
ESTHER ÁLVAREZ DE LA FUENTE
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Future Expectations ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Word Versus ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Processing Difficulty

AbstractPrevious research suggests that native speakers quickly adapt to the properties of the language in the surrounding context. For instance, as they repeatedly read a structure that is initially nonpreferred or infrequent, they show a reduction of processing difficulty. Adaptation has been accounted for in terms of error-based learning: the error resulting from the difference between the expected and actual input leads to an adjustment of the knowledge representation, which changes future expectations. The present study tested whether experiencing an error is sufficient for adaptation. We compared native English speakers and second language (L2) learners’ processing of, and adaptation to, two types of temporarily ambiguous structures that were resolved toward the nonpreferred interpretation. Whereas both native English and L2 speakers showed increased reading times at the disambiguating word versus a nonambiguous control, our data suggest that only native English speakers adapted, and only to one of the two structures. These results suggest that experiencing an error is not sufficient for adaptation, and that factors such as ease of revision and task effects may play a role as well.

The perception of Mandarin lexical tones by listeners from different linguistic backgrounds

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimiko Tsukada ◽  
Hui Ling Xu ◽  
Nan Xu Rattanasone
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Accurate Perception ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Mandarin Tones

AbstractTwo groups of non-native adult learners of Mandarin in Australia were directly compared in their ability to perceive monosyllabic Mandarin words contrasting in lexical tones. They differed in their linguistic experience (non-heritage (n=10), heritage (n=12)). A group of eight native Mandarin speakers and a group of ten functionally monolingual speakers of Australian English were included as controls. All non-native learners used English as their primary language of communication. However, the heritage learners were able to communicate in Cantonese as well as English. The primary question of interest was whether heritage learners’ knowledge of contrastive tone in Cantonese might give them an advantage over English-speaking learners in perceiving tone contrasts in Mandarin. In general, there were more similarities than differences between the two groups of learners in their response patterns. Of the six tone contrasts examined (T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, T2-T3, T2-T4, T3-T4), the two groups significantly differed only on T1-T4. The heritage learners were less accurate on T1-T4 than the non-heritage learners who are monolingual speakers of Australian English. On the other hand, the non-heritage learners were more accurate than Australian English speakers with no prior experience with Mandarin on all tone contrasts. Thus, we conclude that simply having an exposure to and functional knowledge of another tonal language since early childhood does not guarantee accurate perception of Mandarin tones in comparison with adult learners without prior experience with tonal languages.

Text-based negotiated interaction of NNS-NNS and NNS-NS dyads on Facebook

ReCALL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Hsueh-Jui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Negotiated Interaction ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Given

AbstractThis study sought to determine the difference in text-based negotiated interaction between non-native speakers of English (NNS-NNS) and between non-native and natives (NNS-NS) in terms of the frequency of negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use when the dyads collaborated on Facebook. It involved 10 native English speakers and 30 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). NNS-NNS dyads consisted of five H-H pairs and five L-L pairs (H and L representing high- and low-proficiency learners). Similarly, NNS-NS dyads comprised five H-N pairs and five L-N pairs (N being native speakers). All dyads were required to use text chats to complete the given reading tasks synchronously in chatrooms on Facebook. The results suggested that negotiated instances, successfully resolved instances, and interactional strategy use occurred more frequently in H-H pairs than in L-N, L-L, or H-N pairs. In terms of strategy use, H-H, H-N, and L-N dyads were likely to engage in negotiated interaction by employing strategies such as clarifying unclear expressions or checking their comprehension, while L-L used interactional mechanisms infrequently and tended to use strategies such as continuers and asking for assistance. The research concludes with the pedagogical implications of the results.

Investigating L2 Acquisition of Spanish Vocalic Sequences

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Relative Intensity ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Vocalic Sequences ◽  
The Individual

AbstractWhile previous studies have investigated the acquisition of Spanish vowels by English speakers, none has examined how sequences of vowels are acquired. This study considers the developmental path of acquisition of diphthongs and hiatus by English-speaking learners of Spanish. Previous studies have found that duration is a robust acoustic cue to the difference between a diphthong and a hiatus (Face & Alvord 2004, Hualde & Prieto 2002). This study investigates how the durational difference is manifest in the speech of L2 learners of Spanish and how its realization changes as a function of proficiency in Spanish. In addition, transfer of a phonological constraint in English barring homorganic consonant-glide (CG) onset clusters (Davis & Hammond 1995, Ohala & Kawasaki-Fukumori 1997) and phonetic transfer of the relative intensity values of English glides, which have been found to be lower in English (MacLeod 2008), onto production of Spanish glides are also investigated. A delayed-repetition task with English and Spanish tokens tested 4 groups of speakers: beginning learners, intermediate learners, native Spanish speakers, and native English speakers. The results show that the learners produce a durational difference similar to the native speakers (in that hiatus were, on average, longer than diphthongs), but that the duration of the individual vowels was longer in the speech of the learners as compared to the native speakers. Transfer of the phonological constraint against homorganic CG clusters was found to some extent since glides in homorganic CG clusters were marginally statistically significantly longer than those in non-homorganic clusters in the speech of the beginning learners, but not for native Spanish speakers. In contrast, phonetic transfer of the relative intensity norms of English onto Spanish was not found since the learners produced Spanish glides with a higher relative intensity than the native Spanish speakers. The salience of duration and intensity for English speakers are discussed in concert with general articulatory concerns, both of the vocalic sequences themselves and in terms of the surrounding consonants.

Exploring the Effects of Imitating Hand Gestures and Head Nods on L1 and L2 Mandarin Tone Production

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2179-2195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Zheng ◽  
Yukari Hirata ◽  
Spencer D. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Hand Gestures ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Mandarin Tone ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study investigated the impact of metaphoric actions—head nods and hand gestures—in producing Mandarin tones for first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers.MethodIn 2 experiments, participants imitated videos of Mandarin tones produced under 3 conditions: (a) speech alone, (b) speech + head nods, and (c) speech + hand gestures. Fundamental frequency was recorded for both L1 (Experiment 1) and L2 (Experiment 2a) speakers, and the output of the L2 speakers was rated for tonal accuracy by 7 native Mandarin judges (Experiment 2b).ResultsExperiment 1 showed that 12 L1 speakers' fundamental frequency spectral data did not differ among the 3 conditions. In Experiment 2a, the conditions did not affect the production of 24 English speakers for the most part, but there was some evidence that hand gestures helped Tone 4. In Experiment 2b, native Mandarin judges found limited conditional differences in L2 productions, with Tone 3 showing a slight head nods benefit in a subset of “correct” L2 tokens.ConclusionResults suggest that metaphoric bodily actions do not influence the lowest levels of L1 speech production in a tonal language and may play a very modest role during preliminary L2 learning.

The Comprehensibility of Simplified English in Procedures

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena K. Shubert ◽  
Jan H. Spyridakis ◽  
Heather K. Holmback ◽  
Mary B. Coney
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Completion Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Anecdotal Evidence ◽  
Document Type ◽  
The Difference ◽  
And Task

Anecdotal evidence suggests that using a restricted language called Simplified English (SE) to write procedural documents is the best method to accommodate specific audiences. Providing empirical data to prove or disprove this hypothesis is the point of the experiment reported here. This study examined the effect of document type (SE versus non-SE), passage (Procedure A versus Procedure B), and native language (native versus non-native English speakers) on the comprehensibility, identification of content location, and task completion time of procedure documents for airplane maintenance. This research suggests that using SE significantly improves the comprehensibility of more complex documents. Further, readers of more complex SE documents can more easily locate and identify information within the document. For the documents tested in this experiment, the SE and non-SE documents took essentially the same amount of time for subjects to read and complete the test. Finally, while the difference between native and non-native English speakers could not be tested statistically because of extremely different cell sizes, the comprehensibility and content location scores for the native and non-native speakers appear to be quite different, with the non-native speakers benefiting from SE more than the native speakers.

scholarly journals Comparing the Language Style Used by Native and Non-native English Speakers in The Ellen Show

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-588
Author(s):  
Ade Dwi Cahyanti ◽  
Rudi Hartono ◽  
Dwi Anggani Linggar Bharati
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Language Style ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Language Styles

As the user of communication especially in English, the speaker has to consider the interlocutor’s position in order to achieve good communication. Here, the speakers which include native and non-native English speakers must choose an appropriate language style for the different interlocutors to avoid social consequences. The purposes of this research were to analyze the use of language style of those speakers in The Ellen Show. Also, it focused on the differences and the similarities between those speakers. Last, it focused on the factors influencing the use of language style. The research used the qualitative method which focuses on content analysis. Here, it focused on three native speakers and three non-native speakers of English as the guests in The Ellen Show. The Ellen Show is a talk show program with a casual discussion that talks about a particular topic or issue which consists of a host, the guest(s) being interviewed, the home audience, and the studio audience from which the host might get some responses from.The findings revealed that the native English speakers used all types of language styles. Meanwhile, the non-native speakers used three types of language styles. Then, the similarities were that both speakers applied formal style, consultative style, and casual style in their utterances. However, the difference was the non-native English speakers did not apply frozen style and intimate style. Furthermore, those speakers used language style because it influenced the participant, the setting, the topic, and the function. Therefore, it is concluded that language styles were useful in English utterances either by native speakers or non-native English speakers.   The speaker has to consider the interlocutor’s position in order to achieve good communication. Here, the speakers which include native and non-native English speakers must choose an appropriate language style for the different interlocutors to avoid social consequences. The purposes of this research were to analyze the use of language style of those speakers in The Ellen Show. Also, it focused on the differences and the similarities between those speakers. Last, it focused on the factors influencing the use of language style. The research used the qualitative method which focuses on content analysis. Here, it focused on three native speakers and three non-native speakers of English as the guests in The Ellen Show. The findings revealed that the native English speakers used all types of language styles. Meanwhile, the non-native speakers used three types of language styles. Then, the similarities were that both speakers applied formal style, consultative style, and casual style in their utterances. However, the difference was the non-native English speakers did not apply frozen style and intimate style. Furthermore, those speakers used language style because it influenced the participant, the setting, the topic, and the function. Therefore, it is concluded that language styles were useful in English utterances either by native speakers or non-native English speakers.

scholarly journals Measuring Vowel Duration Variability in Native English Speakers and Polish Learners

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Porzuczek
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Length Variation ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
The Difference

This paper presents a set of simple statistical measures that illustrate the difference between native English speakers and Polish learners of English in varying the length of vocalic segments in read speech. Relative vowel duration and vowel length variation are widely used as basic criteria for establishing rhythmic differences between languages and dialects of a language. The parameter of vocalic duration is employed in popular measures such as ΔV (Ramus et al. 1999), VarcoV (Dellwo 2006, White and Mattys 2007), and PVI (Low et al. 2000, Grabe and Low 2002). Apart from rhythm studies, the processing of data concerning vowel duration can be used to establish the level of discrepancy between native speech and learner speech in investigating other temporal aspects of FL pronunciation, such as tense-lax vowel distinction, accentual lengthening or the degree of unstressed vowel reduction, which are often pointed out as serious problems in the acquisition of English pronunciation by Polish learners. Using descriptive statistics (relations between personal mean vowel duration and standard deviation), the author calculates several indices that demonstrate individual learners' (13 subjects) scores in relation to the native speakers' (12 subjects) score ranges. In some tested aspects, the results of the two groups of speakers are almost cleanly separated, which suggests not only the existence of specific didactic problems but also their actual scale.

Auditory and Visual Training on Mandarin Tones

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinchun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Speech Output ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Mandarin Tone

Beginning level Mandarin learners with different L1 backgrounds received six hours of Mandarin tone training using phrases and sentences produced by multiple native Mandarin speakers. Using Kay Elementric’s Sona Speech II software with real time display of pitch contours along with speech output on a PC computer, the trainees had both auditory and visual input when they recorded and compared their own productions with the training stimuli during the training. The trainees’ productions of Mandarin tones were judged by native Mandarin listeners to be significantly better at post test than at pretest. Such improvement was not matched by a control group that received the same classroom instruction but did not take the training. The trainees also reported very positive experience with the training. The findings suggest that the training is effective for learning Mandarin tones in a larger linguistic context beyond isolated syllables.

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