Acoustic analysis of Chinese tone production by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Liu Shi
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Rhythm Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Thai Students ◽  
First Languages

Abstract This article reports on an empirical study of Chinese tone production in various contexts by Thai-speaking learners of L2 Chinese. Comparisons are made between Thai students and Chinese native speakers. The acoustic data are analyzed in terms of pitch register, pitch contour and duration, which show that the main problems of Thai students are: (1) T1 is lower in sentence-mid and sentence-initial positions; (2) T2 is less rising or even exhibits a falling-rising contour at a lower register; (3) T3 cannot approximate a full falling-rising contour in isolated characters and at sentence-final position; (4) T4 is too long and the falling slope is too strong. The implication of our results suggests that Thai students should make efforts in both pitch and rhythm control and pay attention to context variations. It is also suggested that similar research methods can be applied to L2 Chinese learners with different first languages (L1s).

scholarly journals Effects of L1 Transfer Are Profound, Yet Native-Like Processing Strategy Is Attainable: Evidence From Advanced Learners’ Production of Complex L2 Chinese Structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuyun Wu ◽  
Jun Lyu ◽  
Yanan Sheng
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Asymmetric Pattern ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Ultimate Attainment ◽  
English Group

English as a verb-medial language has a short-before-long preference, whereas Korean and Japanese as verb-final languages show a long-before-short preference. In second language (L2) research, little is known regarding how L1 processing strategies affect the ultimate attainment of target structures. Existing work has shown that native speakers of Chinese strongly prefer to utter demonstrative-classifier (DCL) phrases first in subject-extracted relatives (DCL-SR-N) and DCLs second in object-extracted relatives (OR-DCL-N). But it remains unknown whether L2 learners with typologically different language backgrounds are able to acquire native-like strategies, and how they deviate from native speakers or even among themselves. Using a phrase-assembly task, we investigated advanced L2-Chinese learners whose L1s were English, Korean, and Japanese, because English lacks individual classifiers and has postnominal relative clause (RC), whereas Korean and Japanese have individual classifiers and prenominal RCs. Results showed that the English and Korean groups deviated from the native controls’ asymmetric pattern, but the Japanese group approximated native-like performance. Furthermore, compared to the English group, the Korean and Japanese groups favored the DCL-second configuration in SRs and ORs. No differences were found between the Korean and Japanese groups. Overall, our findings suggest that L1 processing strategies play an overarching role in L2 acquisition of asymmetric positioning of DCLs in Chinese RCs.

Development of disyllabic tones in different learning contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233
Author(s):  
Bei Yang ◽  
Nuoyi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Immersion Programs ◽  
Post Test

AbstractTones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese. We study tonal acquisition for American learners of Chinese in three learning contexts: study-abroad, at-home and immersion programs. This paper explores whether and how tone production is improved in these contexts. Fifteen learners of Chinese participated in this study. They took a pre-test and a post-test. The control group contained ten native speakers. The task was a read-aloud test in Chinese. Additionally, learners filled out a language contact form. To assess students’ tonal accuracy, we conducted two kinds of analysis: a perception assessment by native Mandarin speakers and an acoustic analysis of pitch track comparison. Contextual data were coded based on the length of language contact with native speakers of Chinese. The results indicate that difficult tone combinations are context sensitive. It also reveals what strategies learners of Chinese use to produce tones similar to native speakers’ production.

Acoustic properties of vowels in Upper Necaxa Totonac

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michelle García-Vega ◽  
Benjamin V. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Second Formant

Upper Necaxa Totonac is a Totonacan language spoken in the Necaxa River valley in the Sierra Norte of Puebla State, Mexico. While the Totonacan languages historically have three phonemic vowel qualities, the Upper Necaxa system consists of five vowels that contrast length and laryngealization. With acoustic data from six native speakers from the Totonacan communities of Patla and Chicontla, we explore the phonetic properties of vowels with respect to the first and second formant frequencies, quantity (duration), vowel phonation (modal vs. laryngeal), and stress. The data indicate that long, short, modal and laryngeal vowels occupy a similar formant space and that duration is the primary phonetic correlate of phonemic vowel length. A shift in vowel quality and an increase in duration and pitch were shown to be the acoustic characteristics of stress. The study provides a first acoustic analysis of vowels in Upper Necaxa, and contributes to typological descriptions of the properties of vowels connected with quality, quantity, stress, and phonation.

ERP signatures of subject–verb agreement in L2 learning

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
LANG CHEN ◽  
HUA SHU ◽  
YOUYI LIU ◽  
JINGJING ZHAO ◽  
PING LI
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Neural Structure ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
L2 Learners

In this study we examined ERP (event-related-potential) responses in the morphosyntactic processing of subject–verb agreements by L2 Chinese learners of English. Fifteen proficient L2 learners and fifteen native English speakers were presented with English sentences that varied in the grammaticality of the sentence with respect to subject–verb agreement. Our results indicate that late L2 learners show distinct ERP responses from native speakers in the processing of syntactic features that are absent in their L1, even when their behavioral patterns are similar to those of native speakers. The results are taken to support the proposal that language-specific experiences with L1 shape the neural structure of processing in L2.

Acquiring topic structures in Mandarin Chinese

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-hsi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Advanced Stage ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Grammatical Judgment ◽  
L1 English

AbstractPrevious studies suggest that Chinese topic structures, especially base-generated structures, are difficult for L1 English L2 Chinese learners, and only at the very advanced stage do learners perform at the target-like level. Yuan (1995) hypothesizes that non-advanced L2 learners may have difficulty adding a topic node to the subject-predicate structure and that they tend to interpret the topic as the subject. The present study tests this hypothesis and seeks to find out if structure building is accessible to L2 learners before they reach an advanced stage. A grammatical judgment experiment was conducted on several types of topic structures. Results show that lower-level subjects behaved on a par with native speakers on certain types of topic structures. This result suggests that L2 learners are able to build new structures at an early stage.

Toward an Understanding of Heritage Prosody

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Chang ◽  
Yao Yao
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Demographic Background

In previous work examining heritage language phonology, heritage speakers have often patterned differently from native speakers and late-onset second language (L2) learners with respect to overall accent and segmentals. The current study extended this line of inquiry to suprasegmentals, comparing the properties of lexical tones produced by heritage, native, and L2 speakers of Mandarin living in the U.S. We hypothesized that heritage speakers would approximate native norms for Mandarin tones more closely than L2 speakers, yet diverge from these norms in one or more ways. We further hypothesized that, due to their unique linguistic experience, heritage speakers would sound the most ambiguous in terms of demographic background. Acoustic data showed that heritage speakers approximated native-like production more closely than L2 speakers with respect to the pitch contour of Tone 3, durational shortening in connected speech, and rates of Tone 3 reduction in non-phrase-final contexts, while showing the highest levels of tonal variability among all groups. Perceptual data indicated that heritage speakers’ tones differed from native and L2 speakers’ in terms of both intelligibility and perceived goodness. Consistent with the variability results, heritage speakers were the most difficult group to classify demographically. Taken together, these findings suggest that, with respect to tone, early heritage language experience can, but does not necessarily, result in a phonological advantage over L2 learners. Further, they add support to the view that heritage speakers are language users distinct from both native and L2 speakers.

Effects of Group Dynamic Assessment on L2 Chinese learners’ literacy development: Learners’ responsiveness to interactive mediation

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Ting Kao
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Development ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviors ◽  
Group Dynamic ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
Rhetorical Structures

AbstractDynamic Assessment (DA), an innovative assessment approach, has begun to attract attention as a conceptualization of assessment that emphasizes the social interactive role of learning. Although DA receives attention in the field of language testing/assessment, its feasibility in engaging larger cohorts of individuals is concerned. This shortcoming of DA leads to the application of Group Dynamic Assessment (G-DA). This study examined the extent to which mediation provided through G-DA frameworks – concurrent and cumulative – supported a group of language learners’ literacy development. It investigates five intermediate L2 Chinese learners’ rhetorical awareness via their performance on Chinese reading and writing tasks. One Chinese rhetorical structures, the ‘Qi-cheng-zhuan-he’ approach, was selected because it is considered the most difficult learning point for Chinese learners. Findings were reported: 1) the mediation provided to the participants through both concurrent and cumulative G-DA approaches promoted their understanding of the ‘Qi-cheng-zhuan-he’ approach, 2) the more times a participant engaged as the primary interactant, the better learning outcome he/she would present, 3) individual participant had different developmental level and thus showed various extent of responsiveness to the teacher’s mediation; yet, their active participation, either verbal or nonverbal behaviors, would foster their learning performance. Pedagogical applications are discussed.

Examining individual variation in learner production data: A few programmatic pointers for corpus-based analyses using the example of adverbial clause ordering

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Stefan Th. Gries ◽  
Stefanie Wulff
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Temporal Adverbial

ABSTRACT This study examines the variable positioning of a finite adverbial subordinate clause and its main clause with the subordinate clause either preceding or following the main clause in native versus nonnative English. Specifically, we contrast causal, concessive, conditional, and temporal adverbial clauses produced by German and Chinese learners of English with those produced by native speakers. We examined 2,362 attestations from the Chinese and German subsections of the International Corpus of Learner English (Granger, Dagneaux, Meunier, & Paquot, 2009) and from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (Granger, 1998). All instances were annotated for the ordering, the subordinate clause type, the lengths of the main and subordinate clauses, the first language of the speakers, the conjunction used, and the file it originated from (as a proxy for the speaker producing the sentence so as to be able to study individual and lexical variation). The results of a two-step regression modeling protocol suggest that learners behave most nativelike with causal clauses and struggle most with conditional and concessive clauses; in addition, learners make more non-nativelike choices when the main and subordinate clause are of about equal length.

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