Using melody metrics to compare English speech read by native speakers and by L2 Chinese speakers from shanghai

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hirst ◽  
Hongwei Ding
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
L2 Chinese

Locative phrase and descriptive discourse in L2 Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-182
Author(s):  
Arnaud Arslangul ◽  
Marzena Watorek
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spatial Localization ◽  
Informational Content ◽  
Spatial Description ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
Intermediate Learners ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
The Way

Abstract This study examines the way in which French-speaking learners of L2 Chinese construct a type of discourse called static spatial description. It involves the analysis of an oral corpus collected from two groups of native speakers of Chinese and French, and two groups of learners of L2 Chinese at two proficiency levels (low and intermediate). The data collected consist of the description of a poster. The results show that linguistic devices used in Chinese and French to encode the locative phrase and its syntactic functions have an impact on the presence and placement of the locative in utterances encoding spatial localization. These properties in turn influence the way in which the informational content develops across the utterances in the discourse. There is a clear development of proficiency between the two L2 groups. However, intermediate learners are not yet able to organize information on the discourse level like native Chinese speakers do.

scholarly journals Subjacency Violations in Second Language Acquisition: Some Evidence from Chinese Mandarin Speakers of L2 English

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xia Dai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

The literature review shows that many previous studies have used Subjacency to test the availability of UniversalGrammar (UG) in second language acquisition. Schachter (1989) claimed that L2 learners do not have access to UGprinciples, while Hawkins and Chan (1997) suggested that L2 learners had partial availability of UG, for they foundthere was a strong difference between the elementary L2 learners and the advanced L2 learners in judging theungrammaticality of Subjacency violations; that is, the elementary L2 learners owned the highest accuracy. Underthe hypothesis of partially availability of UG in second language acquisition, L2 learners are only able to acquire theproperties instantiated in their L1s. Although they may accept violations of universal constraints, it is only at facevalue; rather the L2 learners develop different syntactic representations from the native speakers. This study has beenundertaken as a follow-up study of Hawkins and Chan (1997), and tested on L1 Mandarin speakers of L2 English injudging the grammaticality of their Subjacency violations. The results of the Grammaticality Judgement Test showthat the accuracy of Chinese speakers in judgement increased with English proficiency and that they rejectedresumptives inside islands as a repair. Contrary to the previous findings, this study provides evidence that UG isavailable in adult second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Psycholinguistic Studies of Chinese Worldview Fragments

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-49
Author(s):  
Olga V. Dubkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Chinese Word ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Dictionaries ◽  
Practical Research ◽  
Mental Connections ◽  
The Russian Language

At present, fragments of the Chinese worldview are studied on the basis of theoretical and practical research developed by the Moscow Psycholinguistic School. In Russian and Chinese psycholinguistics, sufficient material has been accumulated to determine the main advantages of the free associative experiment. The problems of identifying stimulus words and interpreting reactions reflecting the Chinese picture of the world are also obvious. The free associative experiment allows us to determine the deep mental connections of the phonetic and graphic appearance of the Chinese word, represented by graphemes different from those of the Russian language, the latter having their own lexical and additional “graphic” meaning. The difficulties in learning languages of different typological systems are associated with the problems of compiling a vocabulary of stimulus words and the possibility of a multivalued interpretation of Chinese recipients’ reactions, reflecting the images of the Chinese consciousness. For this reason, it is unacceptable to transfer the “reification” of fragments of the Russian worldview to the fragments of the Chinese worldview. When compiling a vocabulary of stimulus words, one should take into account the structural and grammatical features of the Chinese word, the structure of Chinese characters and their origin, the frequency in the speech of native speakers, etc. To interpret the reactions of a free associative experiment, in addition to bilingual dictionaries, it is advisable to use various dictionaries of the Chinese language, including etymological ones. Based on the established tradition of analyzing the results of associative experiments, the author typologizes the reactions of Chinese speakers, which allows to establish the dynamics of the Chinese worldview.

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.

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.

scholarly journals An incremental model of second language speech production mechanisms: Developmental evidence from object ellipsis in second language Chinese speech production

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-810
Author(s):  
Boping Yuan ◽  
Lulu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
L2 Chinese ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Korean Speakers ◽  
Production Mechanisms ◽  
L2 Speech Production

Aims: This study investigates object ellipsis in English and Korean speakers’ second language (L2) Chinese speech production and the effects of first language (L1) influence in L2 Chinese speech production. Design: 59 English speakers and 64 Korean speakers at various Chinese proficiency levels, as well as 16 native speakers of Chinese, participated in the study. In addition to an acceptability judgement test, an utterance-recall task was employed in the study to prime participants for relevant structures. Findings: There are early stages where derivations, such as move, deletion, etc., are not implemented in L2 speech production, although at later stages L2 speech production mechanisms can converge with that of native speakers. No evidence of L1 influence is found, and L2 learners are found to behave differently in the utterance-recall task and the sentence acceptability judgement task. Originality: The study includes data from L2 Chinese learners from beginner to advanced levels and provides a comprehensive picture of structural priming effects on the development of L2 speech production. Implications: There is a discontinuity in the development of L2 speech production mechanisms, and the development of the mechanisms is incremental in nature. Mechanisms for L2 language comprehension are different from those for L2 speech production, at least as far as L2 at the early stages is concerned.

scholarly journals New Chinglish and the Post-Multilingualism challenge: Translanguaging ELF in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wei
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
First Century ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Language And Communication ◽  
New Form ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
New Generation

AbstractBuilding on the extensive ELF research that aims to reconceptualise English as a resource that can be appropriated and exploited without allegiance to its historically native speakers, this article explores the issue of English in China by examining New Chinglish that has been created and shared by a new generation of Chinese speakers of English in China and spread through the new media. This new form of English has distinctive Chinese characteristics and serves a variety of communicative, social and political purposes in response to the Post-Multilingualism challenges in China and beyond. I approach New Chinglish from a Translanguaging perspective, a theoretical perspective that is intended to raise fundamental questions about the validity of conventional views of language and communication and to contribute to the understanding of the Post-Multilingualism challenges that we face in the twenty-first century.

An Acoustic Experimental Study on Sound Acquisition in Standard Chinese by Native Speakers of Uyghur

2012 ◽  
Vol 490-495 ◽  
pp. 2027-2031
Author(s):  
Hua Ying Chen ◽  
Yi Yang
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Speech Learning Model ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Speech Learning ◽  
Assimilation Model

The present acoustic experiment studies the acquisition of Standard Chinese vowels by native speakers of Uyghur. The results indicate that in identifying the 7 vowels of Standard Chinese produced by the native Han Chinese speakers, Uyghur subjects with high Chinese proficiency perform better both in accuracy and reaction time than Uyghur subjects with low Chinese proficiency, and all the Uyghur subjects are not good in perceiving vowels //, /i/ and //. The results of the experiment support the Speech Learning Model and the Perceptual Assimilation Model. In addition, it shows that the second language speech acquisition is restricted by the first language phonological system.

Acoustic Sources of Accent in Second Language Japanese Speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Idemaru ◽  
Peipei Wei ◽  
Lucy Gubbins
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
First Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Chinese Speakers

This study reports an exploratory analysis of the acoustic characteristics of second language (L2) speech which give rise to the perception of a foreign accent. Japanese speech samples were collected from American English and Mandarin Chinese speakers ( n = 16 in each group) studying Japanese. The L2 participants and native speakers ( n = 10) provided speech samples modeling after six short sentences. Segmental (vowels and stops) and prosodic features (rhythm, tone, and fluency) were examined. Native Japanese listeners ( n = 10) rated the samples with regard to degrees of foreign accent. The analyses predicting accent ratings based on the acoustic measurements indicated that one of the prosodic features in particular, tone (defined as high and low patterns of pitch accent and intonation in this study), plays an important role in robustly predicting accent rating in L2 Japanese across the two first language (L1) backgrounds. These results were consistent with the prediction based on phonological and phonetic comparisons between Japanese and English, as well as Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. The results also revealed L1-specific predictors of perceived accent in Japanese. The findings of this study contribute to the growing literature that examines sources of perceived foreign accent.

The phonological preparation unit in spoken word production in a second language

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHUCHU LI ◽  
MIN WANG ◽  
JOSHUA A. DAVIS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Interference Effect ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Lexical Competition ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Spoken Word Production ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers

This study investigated the phonological preparation unit when planning spoken words with native Chinese speakers who speak English as a Second Language (ESLs). In Experiment 1, native Chinese speakers named pictures in Chinese, and the names shared the same onset, same rhyme, or had nothing systematically in common. No onset effect was shown, suggesting that native Chinese speakers did not use onset as their preparation unit. There was a rhyme interference effect, probably due to lexical competition. In Experiment 2, the same task was conducted in English among Chinese ESLs and native English speakers. Native speakers showed onset facilitation whereas ESLs did not show such an effect until Block 3. ESLs’ phonological preparation unit is likely to be influenced by their native language but with repetition they are able to attend to sub-syllabic units. Both groups showed rhyme interference, possibly as a result of joint lexical and phonological competition.

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