scholarly journals The Effects of Mandarin Chinese Lexical Tones in Sound–Shape and Sound–Size Correspondences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Yen-Han Chang ◽  
Mingxue Zhao ◽  
Yi-Chuan Chen ◽  
Pi-Chun Huang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Shape Matching ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Native Mandarin Chinese Speakers

Abstract Crossmodal correspondences refer to when specific domains of features in different sensory modalities are mapped. We investigated how vowels and lexical tones drive sound–shape (rounded or angular) and sound–size (large or small) mappings among native Mandarin Chinese speakers. We used three vowels (/i/, /u/, and /a/), and each vowel was articulated in four lexical tones. In the sound–shape matching, the tendency to match the rounded shape was decreased in the following order: /u/, /i/, and /a/. Tone 2 was more likely to be matched to the rounded pattern, whereas Tone 4 was more likely to be matched to the angular pattern. In the sound–size matching, /a/ was matched to the larger object more than /u/ and /i/, and Tone 2 and Tone 4 correspond to the large–small contrast. The results demonstrated that both vowels and tones play prominent roles in crossmodal correspondences, and sound–shape and sound–size mappings are heterogeneous phenomena.

The influence of Chinese Focused Cleft wh-constructions on Chinese speakers’ L2 knowledge of English wh-movement

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 142-168
Author(s):  
Fuyun Wu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Chinese Learners Of English ◽  
Native Mandarin Chinese Speakers

Previous studies of Mandarin speakers’ intuitions about grammatical and ungrammatical wh-movement constructions in L2 English have produced mixed results. Some studies show that such speakers neither fully accept grammatical wh-constructions, nor fully reject constructions that violate locality constraints. The present study examines the possibility that learners may be transferring the Chinese Focused Cleft wh-construction (FCW) into their English grammars, and that transfer is persistently influential. It is argued that the FCW, which produces structures superficially similar to English wh-movement questions, does not involve movement. Two experimental studies are reported. The first tests native Mandarin Chinese speakers’ intuitions about the FCW in order to provide evidence bearing on lack of movement in the FCW. The second tests the intuitions about grammatical and ungrammatical English wh-movement of advanced L2 learners of English whose L1 was Mandarin. The results support the claim that advanced Chinese learners of English interpret English wh-constructions like Chinese FCWs.

Modelling Mandarin speakers’ phonotactic knowledge

Phonology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-275
Author(s):  
Shuxiao Gong ◽  
Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Formal Modelling ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Lexical Statistics ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Phonotactic Learning ◽  
Native Mandarin Chinese Speakers

This paper investigates the nature of native Mandarin Chinese speakers’ phonotactic knowledge via an experimental study and formal modelling of the experimental results. Results from a phonological well-formedness judgement experiment suggest that Mandarin speakers’ phonotactic knowledge is sensitive not only to lexical statistics, but also to grammatical principles such as systematic and accidental phonotactic constraints, allophonic restrictions and segment–tone co-occurrence restrictions. We employ the UCLA Phonotactic Learner to model Mandarin speakers’ phonotactic knowledge, and compare the model's well-formedness predictions with speakers’ judgements. The disparity between the model's predictions and the well-formedness ratings from the experiment indicates that grammatical principles and the lexicon are still not sufficient to explain all of the variations in the speakers’ judgements. We argue that multiple biases, such as naturalness bias, allophony bias and suprasegmental bias, are effective during phonotactic learning.

scholarly journals The use of discourse markers but and so by native English speakers and Chinese speakers of English

Pragmatics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binmei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Oral Discourse ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Abstract Previous studies have found that but and so occur frequently in native and non-native English speakers’ speech and that they are easy to acquire by non-native English speakers. The current study compared ideational and pragmatic functions of but and so by native and non-native speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews with five native English speakers and ten L1 Chinese speakers. The results suggest that even though the Chinese speakers of English acquired the ideational functions of but and so as well as the native English speakers, they underused the pragmatic functions of them. The findings indicate that there is still a gap between native and non-native English speakers in communicative competence in the use of but and so. The present study also suggests that speakers’ L1 (Mandarin Chinese) and overall oral proficiency in oral discourse affect their use of but and so.

Audiovisual crossmodal correspondences in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Valeria Occelli ◽  
Gianluca Esposito ◽  
Paola Venuti ◽  
Peter Walker ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Association Pattern ◽  
Visual Patterns ◽  
Visual Inputs ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondence ◽  
Matching Performance ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Auditory Features

The label ‘crossmodal correspondences’ has been used to define the nonarbitrary associations that appear to exist between different basic physical stimulus attributes in different sensory modalities. For instance, it has been consistently shown in the neurotypical population that higher pitched sounds are more frequently matched with visual patterns which are brighter, smaller, and sharper than those associated to lower pitched sounds. Some evidence suggests that patients with ASDs tend not to show this crossmodal preferential association pattern (e.g., curvilinear shapes and labial/lingual consonants vs. rectilinear shapes and plosive consonants). In the present study, we compared the performance of children with ASDs (6–15 years) and matched neurotypical controls in a non-verbal crossmodal correspondence task. The participants were asked to indicate which of two bouncing visual patterns was making a centrally located sound. In intermixed trials, the visual patterns varied in either size, surface brightness, or shape, whereas the sound varied in pitch. The results showed that, whereas the neurotypical controls reliably matched the higher pitched sound to a smaller and brighter visual pattern, the performance of participants with ASDs was at chance level. In the condition where the visual patterns differed in shape, no inter-group difference was observed. Children’s matching performance cannot be attributed to intensity matching or difficulties in understanding the instructions, which were controlled. These data suggest that the tendency to associate congruent visual and auditory features vary as a function of the presence of ASDs, possibly pointing to poorer capabilities to integrate auditory and visual inputs in this population.

scholarly journals On the Relative Nature of (Pitch-Based) Crossmodal Correspondences

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
One To One ◽  
Crossmodal Associations

Abstract This review deals with the question of the relative vs absolute nature of crossmodal correspondences, with a specific focus on those correspondences involving the auditory dimension of pitch. Crossmodal correspondences have been defined as the often-surprising crossmodal associations that people experience between features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities, when either physically present, or else merely imagined. In the literature, crossmodal correspondences have often been contrasted with synaesthesia in that the former are frequently said to be relative phenomena (e.g., it is the higher-pitched of two sounds that is matched with the smaller of two visual stimuli, say, rather than there being a specific one-to-one crossmodal mapping between a particular pitch of sound and size of object). By contrast, in the case of synaesthesia, the idiosyncratic mapping between inducer and concurrent tends to be absolute (e.g., it is a particular sonic inducer that elicits a specific colour concurrent). However, a closer analysis of the literature soon reveals that the distinction between relative and absolute in the case of crossmodal correspondences may not be as clear-cut as some commentators would have us believe. Furthermore, it is important to note that the relative vs absolute question may receive different answers depending on the particular (class of) correspondence under empirical investigation.

English Nasalance Values of Chinese Learners of English

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yilan Liu ◽  
Sue Ann S. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Chinese Learners Of English

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate nasalance scores of speakers of different languages, little research has examined the nasalance characteristics of second language learners. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The goal of the current study was to examine whether English nasalance values of Mandarin Chinese speakers are similar to those of native English speakers, examining the potential effect of the first language on the nasalance scores of the second language production. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Thirty-two adults (16 Mandarin Chinese speakers and 16 native English speakers) with a normal velopharyngeal anatomy participated. Nasalance scores of various speech stimuli were obtained using a nasometer and compared between the 2 groups. <b><i>Results and Conclusions:</i></b> Chinese learners of English produced higher nasalance scores than native English speakers on prolonged vowel /i/ and /a/, the syllable “nin,” and non-nasal sentences and passages. The first language effect on nasalance of the second language found in the current study suggests the importance of linguistic consideration in the clinical evaluation of resonance.

scholarly journals Smelling sensations: olfactory crossmodal correspondences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Joseph Ward ◽  
Sophie Wuerger ◽  
Alan Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Aromatic Compounds ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Cross Model ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Dimensions ◽  
Musical Genres

Crossmodal correspondences are the associations between apparently distinct stimuli in different sensory modalities . These associations, albeit surprising, are generally shared in most of the population. Olfaction is ingrained in the fabric of our daily life and constitutes an integral part of our perceptual reality, with olfaction being more commonly used in the entertainment and analytical domains, it is crucial to uncover the robust correspondences underlying common aromatic compounds. Towards this end, we investigated an aggregate of crossmodal correspondences between ten olfactory stimuli and other modalities ( angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, pleasantness, pitch, colours, musical genres and emotional dimensions ) using a large sample of 68 observers. We uncover the correspondences between these modalities and extent of these associations with respect to the explicit knowledge of the respective aromatic compound. The results revealed the robustness of prior studies, as well as, contributions towards olfactory integration between an aggregate of other dimensions. The knowledge of an odour's identity coupled with the multisensory perception of the odours indicates that these associations, for the most part, are relatively robust and do not rely on explicit knowledge of the odour. Through principal component analysis of the perceptual ratings, new cross-model mediations have been uncovered between odours and their intercorrelated sensory dimensions. Our results demonstrate a collective of associations between olfaction and other dimensions, potential cross modal mediations via exploratory factor analysis and the robustness of these correspondence with respect to the explicit knowledge of an odour. We anticipate the findings reported in this paper could be used as a psychophysical framework aiding in a collective of applications ranging from olfaction enhanced multimedia to marketing.

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