The Effects of Acoustic Variation on the Perception of Lexical Tone in Cantonese-Speaking Congenital Amusics

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shao ◽  
Rebecca Yick Man Lau ◽  
Phyllis Oi Ching Tang ◽  
Caicai Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
High Level ◽  
Acoustic Variation

Purpose Congenital amusia is an inborn neurogenetic disorder of fine-grained pitch processing. This study attempted to pinpoint the impairment mechanism of speech processing in tonal language speakers with amusia. We designed a series of perception tasks aiming at selectively probing low-level pitch processing and relatively high-level phonological processing of lexical tones, with an aim to illuminate the deficiency mechanism underlying tone perception in amusia. Method Sixteen Cantonese-speaking amusics and 16 matched controls were tested on the effects of acoustic (talker/syllable) variations on the identification and discrimination of Cantonese tones in two conditions. In the low-variation condition, tones were always associated with the same talker or syllable; in the high-variation condition, tones were associated with either different talkers (with the syllable controlled) or different syllables (with the talker controlled). Results Largely similar results were obtained in talker and syllable variation conditions. Amusics exhibited overall poorer performance than controls in tone identification. Although amusics also demonstrated poorer performance in tone discrimination, the group difference was more obvious in low-variation conditions, where more acoustic constancy was provided. Besides, controls exhibited a greater increase in discrimination sensitivity from high- to low-variation conditions, implying a stronger benefit of acoustic constancy. Conclusions The findings suggested that amusics' lexical tone perception abilities, in terms of both low-level pitch processing and high-level phonological processing, as measured in low- and high-variation conditions, are impaired. Importantly, amusics were more impaired in taking advantage of low acoustic variation contexts and thus less efficiently sharpened their perception of tones when perceptual anchors in talker/syllable were provided, suggesting a possible “anchoring deficit” in congenital amusia. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7616555

On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Puisan Wong ◽  
Man Wai Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Auditory Sensitivity ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Tone Discrimination

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.

scholarly journals The Influence of Tonal and Atonal Bilingualism on Children’s Lexical and Non-Lexical Tone Perception

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. Morett
Keyword(s):  
Sine Wave ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
Novel Words

This study examined how bilingualism in an atonal language, in addition to a tonal language, influences lexical and non-lexical tone perception and word learning during childhood. Forty children aged 5;3–7;2, bilingual either in English and Mandarin or English and another atonal language, were tested on Mandarin lexical tone discrimination, level-pitch sine-wave tone discrimination, and learning of novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone. Mandarin–English bilingual children discriminated between and learned novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone more accurately than their atonal–English bilingual peers. However, Mandarin–English and atonal–English bilingual children discriminated between level-pitch sine-wave tones with similar accuracy. Moreover, atonal–English bilingual children showed a tendency to perceive differing Mandarin lexical and level-pitch sine-wave tones as identical, whereas their Mandarin–English peers showed no such tendency. These results indicate that bilingualism in a tonal language in addition to an atonal language—but not bilingualism in two atonal languages—allows for continued sensitivity to lexical tone beyond infancy. Moreover, they suggest that although tonal–atonal bilingualism does not enhance sensitivity to differences in pitch between sine-wave tones beyond infancy any more effectively than atonal–atonal bilingualism, it protects against the development of biases to perceive differing lexical and non-lexical tones as identical. Together, the results indicate that, beyond infancy, tonal–atonal bilinguals process lexical tones using different cognitive mechanisms than atonal–atonal bilinguals, but that both groups process level-pitch non-lexical tone using the same cognitive mechanisms.

Cues for Lexical Tone Perception in Children: Acoustic Correlates and Phonetic Context Effects

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1589-1605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuli Tong ◽  
Catherine McBride ◽  
Denis Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Acoustic Correlates ◽  
Syllable Onset ◽  
Phonetic Context ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
Context Cues

Purpose The authors investigated the effects of acoustic cues (i.e., pitch height, pitch contour, and pitch onset and offset) and phonetic context cues (i.e., syllable onsets and rimes) on lexical tone perception in Cantonese-speaking children. Method Eight minimum pairs of tonal contrasts were presented in either an identical phonetic context or in different phonetic contexts (different syllable onsets and rimes). Children were instructed to engage in tone identification and tone discrimination. Results Cantonese children attended to pitch onset in perceiving similarly contoured tones and attended to pitch contour in perceiving different-contoured tones. There was a decreasing level of tone discrimination accuracy, with tone perception being easiest for same rime–different syllable onset, more difficult for different rime–same syllable onset, and most difficult for different rime–different syllable onset phonetic contexts. This pattern was observed in tonal contrasts in which the member tones had the same contour but not in ones in which the member tones had different contours. Conclusion These findings suggest that in addition to pitch contour, the pitch onset is another important acoustic cue for tone perception. The relative importance of acoustic cues for tone perception is phonetically context dependent. These findings are discussed with reference to a newly modified TRACE model for tone languages (TTRACE).

scholarly journals Effects of musical ear training on lexical tone perception

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Evan D Bradley ◽  
Janet G Van Hell
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Tone Discrimination

The effect of short term musical experience on lexical tone perception was examined by administering four hours of daily musical ear training to non-tone language speakers. After training, participants showed some improvement in a tone labeling task, but not a tone discrimination task; however, this improvement did not differ reliably from controls indicating that short-term musical training is thus far not able to replicate language effects observed among lifelong musicians, but some linguistic differences between musicians and nonmusicians may likely be due to experience, rather than individual differences or other factors.

Beyond Auditory Sensory Processing Deficits: Lexical Tone Perception Deficits in Chinese Children With Developmental Dyslexia

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuhong Tong ◽  
Xiuli Tong ◽  
Fung King Yiu
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Rise Time ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Chinese Children ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Speech Rhythm ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Time Sensitivity

Increasing evidence suggests that children with developmental dyslexia exhibit a deficit not only at the segmental level of phonological processing but also, by extension, at the suprasegmental level. However, it remains unclear whether such a suprasegmental phonological processing deficit is due to a difficulty in processing acoustic cues of speech rhythm, such as rise time and intensity. This study set out to investigate to what extent suprasegmental phonological processing (i.e., Cantonese lexical tone perception) and rise time sensitivity could distinguish Chinese children with dyslexia from typically developing children. Sixteen children with dyslexia and 44 age-matched controls were administered a Cantonese lexical tone perception task, psychoacoustic tasks, a nonverbal reasoning ability task, and word reading and dictation tasks. Children with dyslexia performed worse than controls on Cantonese lexical tone perception, rise time, and intensity. Furthermore, Cantonese lexical tone perception appeared to be a stable indicator that distinguishes children with dyslexia from controls, even after controlling for basic auditory processing skills. These findings suggest that suprasegmental phonological processing (i.e., lexical tone perception) is a potential factor that accounts for reading difficulty in Chinese.

scholarly journals Dissociation of tone merger and congenital amusia in Hong Kong Cantonese

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0253982
Author(s):  
Caicai Zhang ◽  
Oi-Yee Ho ◽  
Jing Shao ◽  
Jinghua Ou ◽  
Sam-Po Law
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Musical Perception ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
Tone Discrimination

While the issue of individual variation has been widely studied in second language learning or processing, it is less well understood how perceptual and musical aptitude differences can explain individual variation in native speech processing. In the current study, we make use of tone merger in Hong Kong Cantonese, an ongoing sound change that concerns the merging of tones in perception, production or both in a portion of native speakers, to examine the possible relationship between tone merger and musical and pitch abilities. Although a previous study has reported the occurrence of tone merger independently of musical training, it has not been investigated before whether tone-merging individuals, especially those merging tones in perception, would have inferior musical perception and fine-grained pitch sensitivities, given the close relationship of speech and music. To this end, we tested three groups of tone-merging individuals with various tone perception and production profiles on musical perception and pitch threshold tasks, in comparison to a group of Cantonese speakers with congenital amusia, and another group of controls without tone merger or amusia. Additionally, the amusics were compared with tone-merging individuals on the details of their tone discrimination and production profiles. The results showed a clear dissociation of tone merger and amusia, with the tone-merging individuals exhibiting intact musical and pitch abilities; on the other hand, the amusics demonstrated widespread difficulties in tone discrimination yet intact tone production, in contrast to the highly selective confusion of a specific tone pair in production or discrimination in tone-merging individuals. These findings provide the first evidence that tone merger and amusia are distinct from each other, and further suggest that the cause of tone merger may lie elsewhere rather than being driven by musical or pitch deficits. We also discussed issues arising from the current findings regarding the neural mechanisms of tone merger and amusia.

Teknik Data Mining Dalam Clustering Produksi Susu Segar Di Indonesia Dengan Algoritma K-Means

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Ilham Safitra Damanik ◽  
Sundari Retno Andani ◽  
Dedi Sehendro
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Clustering Method ◽  
Data Mining Techniques ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Fresh Milk ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
High Level ◽  
Level Cluster

Milk is an important intake to meet nutritional needs. Both consumed by children, and adults. Indonesia has many producers of fresh milk, but it is not sufficient for national milk needs. Data mining is a science in the field of computers that is widely used in research. one of the data mining techniques is Clustering. Clustering is a method by grouping data. The Clustering method will be more optimal if you use a lot of data. Data to be used are provincial data in Indonesia from 2000 to 2017 obtained from the Central Statistics Agency. The results of this study are in Clusters based on 2 milk-producing groups, namely high-dairy producers and low-milk producing regions. From 27 data on fresh milk production in Indonesia, two high-level provinces can be obtained, namely: West Java and East Java. And 25 others were added in 7 provinces which did not follow the calculation of the K-Means Clustering Algorithm, including in the low level cluster.

Determinants of Abuse of the Bodies of the Dead

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Margarita Khomyakova
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Specific Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
High Level

The author analyzes definitions of the concepts of determinants of crime given by various scientists and offers her definition. In this study, determinants of crime are understood as a set of its causes, the circumstances that contribute committing them, as well as the dynamics of crime. It is noted that the Russian legislator in Article 244 of the Criminal Code defines the object of this criminal assault as public morality. Despite the use of evaluative concepts both in the disposition of this norm and in determining the specific object of a given crime, the position of criminologists is unequivocal: crimes of this kind are immoral and are in irreconcilable conflict with generally accepted moral and legal norms. In the paper, some views are considered with regard to making value judgments which could hardly apply to legal norms. According to the author, the reasons for abuse of the bodies of the dead include economic problems of the subject of a crime, a low level of culture and legal awareness; this list is not exhaustive. The main circumstances that contribute committing abuse of the bodies of the dead and their burial places are the following: low income and unemployment, low level of criminological prevention, poor maintenance and protection of medical institutions and cemeteries due to underperformance of state and municipal bodies. The list of circumstances is also open-ended. Due to some factors, including a high level of latency, it is not possible to reflect the dynamics of such crimes objectively. At the same time, identification of the determinants of abuse of the bodies of the dead will reduce the number of such crimes.

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