scholarly journals Musical experience modulates categorical perception of lexical tones in native Chinese speakers

2015 ◽  
Vol 06 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Wu ◽  
Xiaohui Ma ◽  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Youyi Liu ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers

scholarly journals Effects of Amateur Musical Experience on Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones by Native Chinese Adults: An ERP Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqiang Zhu ◽  
Xiaoxiang Chen ◽  
Yuxiao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Cortical Plasticity ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Phonological Information ◽  
Chinese Adults ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Acoustic Information ◽  
Amateur Musicians

Music impacting on speech processing is vividly evidenced in most reports involving professional musicians, while the question of whether the facilitative effects of music are limited to experts or may extend to amateurs remains to be resolved. Previous research has suggested that analogous to language experience, musicianship also modulates lexical tone perception but the influence of amateur musical experience in adulthood is poorly understood. Furthermore, little is known about how acoustic information and phonological information of lexical tones are processed by amateur musicians. This study aimed to provide neural evidence of cortical plasticity by examining categorical perception of lexical tones in Chinese adults with amateur musical experience relative to the non-musician counterparts. Fifteen adult Chinese amateur musicians and an equal number of non-musicians participated in an event-related potential (ERP) experiment. Their mismatch negativities (MMNs) to lexical tones from Mandarin Tone 2–Tone 4 continuum and non-speech tone analogs were measured. It was hypothesized that amateur musicians would exhibit different MMNs to their non-musician counterparts in processing two aspects of information in lexical tones. Results showed that the MMN mean amplitude evoked by within-category deviants was significantly larger for amateur musicians than non-musicians regardless of speech or non-speech condition. This implies the strengthened processing of acoustic information by adult amateur musicians without the need of focused attention, as the detection of subtle acoustic nuances of pitch was measurably improved. In addition, the MMN peak latency elicited by across-category deviants was significantly shorter than that by within-category deviants for both groups, indicative of the earlier processing of phonological information than acoustic information of lexical tones at the pre-attentive stage. The results mentioned above suggest that cortical plasticity can still be induced in adulthood, hence non-musicians should be defined more strictly than before. Besides, the current study enlarges the population demonstrating the beneficial effects of musical experience on perceptual and cognitive functions, namely, the effects of enhanced speech processing from music are not confined to a small group of experts but extend to a large population of amateurs.

Aging Effects on Categorical Perception of Mandarin Lexical Tones in Noise

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yuxia Wang ◽  
Xiaohu Yang ◽  
Hongwei Ding ◽  
Can Xu ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Recognition ◽  
Ratio Condition ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Mandarin Tone ◽  
General Tone

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the aging effects on the categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin lexical Tones 1–4 and Tones 1–2 in noise. It also investigated whether listeners' categorical tone perception in noise correlated with their general tone identification of 20 natural vowel-plus-tone signals in noise. Method Twelve younger and 12 older listeners with normal hearing were recruited in both tone identification and discrimination tasks in a CP paradigm where fundamental frequency contours of target stimuli varied systematically from the flat tone (Tone 1) to the rising/falling tones (Tones 2/4). Both tasks were conducted in quiet and noise with signal-to-noise ratios set at −5 and −10 dB, respectively, and general tone identification of natural speech signals was also tested in noise conditions. Results Compared with younger listeners, older listeners had shallower identification slopes and smaller discrimination peakedness in Tones 1–2/4 perception in all listening conditions, except for Tones 1–4 perception in quiet where no group differences were found. Meanwhile, noise affected Tones 1–2/4 perception: The signal-to-noise ratio condition at −10 dB brought shallower slope in Tones 1–2/4 identification and less peakedness in Tones 1–4 discrimination for both listener groups. Older listeners' CP in noise, the identification slopes in particular, positively correlated with their general tone identification in noise, but such correlations were partially missing for younger listeners. Conclusions Both aging and the presence of speech-shaped noise significantly reduced the CP of Mandarin Tones 1–2/4. Listeners' Mandarin tone recognition may be related to their CP of Mandarin tones.

Categorical Perception of Pitch Contours and Voice Onset Time in Mandarin-Speaking Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Gang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Adolescents With Asd

Purpose Previous studies have shown enhanced pitch and impaired time perception in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether such deviated patterns of auditory processing depending on acoustic dimensions would transfer to the higher level linguistic pitch and time processing. In this study, we compared the categorical perception (CP) of lexical tones and voice onset time (VOT) in Mandarin Chinese, which utilize pitch and time changes, respectively, to convey phonemic contrasts. Method The data were collected from 22 Mandarin-speaking adolescents with ASD and 20 age-matched neurotypical controls. In addition to the identification and discrimination tasks to test CP performance, all the participants were evaluated with their language ability and phonological working memory. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different groups and conditions. Results The basic CP pattern of cross-boundary benefit when perceiving both native lexical tones and VOT was largely preserved in high-functioning adolescents with ASD. The degree of CP of lexical tones in ASD was similar to that in typical controls, whereas the degree of CP of VOT in ASD was greatly reduced. Furthermore, the degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with language ability and digit span in ASD participants. Conclusions These findings suggest that the unbalanced acoustic processing capacities for pitch and time can be generalized to the higher level linguistic processing in ASD. Furthermore, the higher degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with better language ability in Mandarin-speaking individuals with ASD.

WHY ARE LEXICAL TONES DIFFICULT TO LEARN?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricky KW Chan ◽  
Janny HC Leung
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
Level Tone

AbstractL2 sounds present different kinds of challenges to learners at the phonetic, phonological, and lexical levels, but previous studies on L2 tone learning mostly focused on the phonetic and lexical levels. The present study employs an innovative technique to examine the role of prior tonal experience and musical training on forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories. Eighty Cantonese and English musicians and nonmusicians completed two tasks: (a) AX tone discrimination and (b) incidental learning of artificial tone-segment connections (e.g., words beginning with an aspirated stop always carry a rising tone) with synthesized stimuli modeled on Thai. Although the four participant groups distinguished the target tones similarly well, Cantonese speakers showed abstract and implicit knowledge of the target tone-segment mappings after training but English speakers did not, regardless of their musical experience. This suggests that tone language experience, but not musical experience, is crucial for forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories.

Electrophysiological evidence of categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones in attentive condition

Neuroreport ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Jie Xi ◽  
Han Wu ◽  
Hua Shu ◽  
Ping Li
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Electrophysiological Evidence

Categorical perception of lexical tones in Chinese revealed by mismatch negativity

Neuroscience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 170 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Xi ◽  
L. Zhang ◽  
H. Shu ◽  
Y. Zhang ◽  
P. Li
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Lexical Tones

scholarly journals Specific Features of Lettered Words’ Integration in the Graphic, Phonetic and Grammatical Aspects of the Chinese Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 114-122
Author(s):  
Tatiana Uryvskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Continuous Sampling ◽  
Know How ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

This paper is devoted to the specific features of lettered words' integration in the graphic, phonetic and grammatical aspects of the Chinese language. The author has analyzed a number of local and foreign studies, covering the main patterns of the lettered words' integration. Based on Liu Yongquan's studies, it was concluded that it's important to strictly follow letters' case. The case difference can distinguish semantics of different lettered words. Native Chinese speakers with high linguistic competence are able to recognize various lettered words in print, but they may not know how to read them out loud. Therefore, the pronunciation of lettered words is associated with a number of issues: the choice of pronunciation standard, the differentiation of initialisms and acronyms, the choice which syllable to stress. Based on the results of previous research, different ways of how borrowed lettered words respond to the grammatical norms of the Chinese language were identified. The empirical analysis was performed with lettered words extracted by the method of continuous sampling from lexicographic sources. Using the cases described in the paper, the author has proved that in addition to such word-formation processes as compounding, semi-affixation, syntactic and morphological transposition, lettered words can also be formed and transformed with morphological contraction.

scholarly journals Testing Models of the Visual Word Form Area Using Combined ERP and fMRI Using the Special Properties of Chinese Characters

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Xiang ◽  
Joseph Dien ◽  
Donald J. Bolger
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Partially Order ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Native Chinese Speakers

AbstractThe visual word form area or VWFA has been of special interest for studies of reading and dyslexia and yet there are conflicting models regarding its function. Here we put the Local Combination Detector, Lexicon, and Interactive accounts to the test, using a combination of event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging. We do so using both pseudoword and reversed radical false word manipulations with Chinese characters, making use of its special properties. We recorded event-related potentials with 68 channels while twenty native Chinese speakers were making rhyme and meaning judgments on single Chinese characters and BOLD signals were collected in a 3T magnet using multi-plane EPI with a further fifteen native Chinese speakers. The word N170 showed a prolongation for reversed radical false characters while the VWFA also showed an effect of reversal, albeit only for pseudocharacters. Furthermore, an N450 rhyming effect was observed in the phonological task compared to the semantic task, but only via an interaction with reversal. The source analysis of the N450 co-registered with a Supplementary Motor Area activation. The combination of these observations suggests that the ventral orthographic pathway is partially order insensitive and that full phonological encoding occurs relatively late, supporting and expanding a model of dyslexia. Overall, they best support a version of the Lexicon account of the VWFA.

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