scholarly journals Gradient Acceptability in Mandarin Nonword Judgment

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxiao Gong ◽  
Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Lexical Statistics ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Gradient Phonotactics ◽  
Acceptability Judgment ◽  
Novel Words

Syllable well-formedness judgment experiments reveal that speakers exhibit gradient judgment on novel words, and the gradience has been attributed to both grammatical factors and lexical statistics (e.g., Coetzee, 2008). This study investigates gradient phonotactics stemming from the violations of four types of grammatical constraints in Mandarin Chinese: 1) principled phonotactic constraints, 2) accidental phonotactic constraints, 3) allophonic restrictions, and 4) segmental-tonal cooccurrence restrictions. A syllable well-formedness judgment experiment was conducted with native Mandarin speakers to examine how the grammatical and lexical statistics factors contribute to the variation in phonotactic acceptability judgment.

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 Emergent Hidden Grammar: Stochastic Patterning in Korean Accentuation of Novel Words

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Hyun-ju Kim
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Lexical Statistics ◽  
Structure Sensitive ◽  
Probabilistic Structure ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Novel Words

This study presents empirical evidence that the accent patterns in novel words do not originate from analogy to phonetically similar familiar words. Rather, the accent pattern of novel words reflects statistical patterning in the lexicon. A corpus study showed that lexical distribution of North Kyungsang Korean (NKK) accent patterns is phonologically patterned: penultimate accent is common where all the syllables are light; final accent is more frequent where the final syllable is heavy. Lexical statistics revealed probabilistic structure-sensitive patterning in the lexicon even if exceptions obscure the patterning. This study will show that the accent patterns in novel words actually match this statistical patterning in the lexicon. This indicates that NKK speakers have implicit knowledge of the statistical patterning and apply it to novel words which lack lexical specification.

Classifiers augment and maintain shape-based categorization in Mandarin speakers

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria D. Sera ◽  
Kaitlin R. Johnson ◽  
Jenny Yichun Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Shape Bias ◽  
Solid Objects ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Chinese Classifiers

AbstractPast evidence suggests that adult Mandarin speakers rely on shape more heavily than English speakers when categorizing solid objects (Kuo and Sera 2009). In this experiment, we began to examine that effect developmentally by investigating the acquisition of the three most common Mandarin Chinese classifiers for solid objects (i.e. ge, zhi and tiao) in relation to development in shape-based categorization by native speakers of Mandarin and English from 3 years of age to adulthood. We found that 3-year-old Mandarin speakers were above chance in their classifier knowledge, but this knowledge continued to develop through 7 years of age. We also found that Mandarin speakers relied more heavily on shape than English speakers, and that shape-based categorization among English speakers tended to decline with age on the trials in which shape choices matched the Mandarin classifiers. The findings suggest that classifiers initially augment Mandarin speakers' attention to the shape of solid objects, and then maintain this early stronger shape bias after they are fully learned. The work highlights how categorization and word learning are graded and intertwined.

Testing the role of phonetic knowledge in Mandarin tone sandhi

Phonology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Yuwen Lai
Keyword(s):  
Tone Sandhi ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Disyllabic Words ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Mandarin Tone ◽  
Novel Words

AbstractPhonological patterns often have phonetic bases. But whether phonetic substance should be encoded in synchronic phonological grammar is controversial. We aim to test the synchronic relevance of phonetics by investigating native Mandarin speakers' applications of two exceptionless tone sandhi processes to novel words: the contour reduction 213→21/—T (T≠213), which has a clear phonetic motivation, and the perceptually neutralising 213→35/—213, whose phonetic motivation is less clear. In two experiments, Mandarin subjects were asked to produce two individual monosyllables together as two different types of novel disyllabic words. Results show that speakers apply the 213→21 sandhi with greater accuracy than the 213→35 sandhi in novel words, indicating a synchronic bias against the phonetically less motivated pattern. We also show that lexical frequency is relevant to the application of the sandhis to novel words, but cannot account alone for the low sandhi accuracy of 213→35.

L1 Korean and L1 Mandarin L2 English learners’ acquisition of the count/mass distinction in English

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sea Hee Choi ◽  
Tania Ionin ◽  
Yeqiu Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
English Learners ◽  
The Other ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Plural Marking ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

This study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of the English count/mass distinction by speakers of Korean and Mandarin Chinese, with a focus on the semantics of atomicity. It is hypothesized that L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners are influenced by atomicity in the use of the count/mass morphosyntax in English. This hypothesis is tested in two experiments, one comparing Korean and Mandarin speakers in their L2 (English) and the other investigating count/mass morphosyntax in native Korean and Mandarin Chinese. In both experiments, participants are tested on their suppliance of plural marking with count and mass NPs. The findings are fully consistent with the view of atomicity as a semantic universal: learners overuse plural marking with mass atomic nouns such as furniture more than with mass non-atomic nouns such as water. Even though plural marking is associated with atomicity in Korean but not in Mandarin, the same patterns are observed in L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners. We conclude that learners’ performance is not due to L1-transfer, but rather to the role of the semantic universal of atomicity in L2-acquisition.

scholarly journals Construal of Manner in speech and gesture in Mandarin, English, and Japanese

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Brown ◽  
Jidong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Mandarin Speakers

AbstractTwo-way typological patterning between satellite- and verb-framed languages in construal of Manner of motion is well attested in speech (e.g. Slobin 2006) and gesture (e.g. McNeill 2001), but contradictory findings exist regarding a third category of equipollently-framed languages (Slobin 2004b). This study examined elicited descriptions of motion from 14 native speakers of Mandarin-Chinese (equipollently-framed), 13 native speakers of English (satellite-framed), and 16 native speakers of Japanese (verb-framed). Results showed that Mandarin and English speakers encoded Manner in speech significantly more than Japanese speakers, and rarely added Manner to gesture when it was absent from speech. However, Mandarin speakers differed from Japanese but also English speakers in gestural highlighting of Manner, where they frequently encoded Manner in speech but not in accompanying gestures, focusing instead on other aspects of the event, specifically Path. These results support a partial three-way typological distinction in construal of motion.

scholarly journals Do classifiers predict differences in cognitive processing? A study of nominal classification in Mandarin Chinese

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Numeral Classifiers ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
And Function

AbstractIn English, numerals modify nouns directly (two tables), but in Mandarin Chinese, they modify numeral classifiers that are associated with nouns (two flat-thing table). Classifiers define a system of categories based on dimensions such as animacy, shape, and function (Adams and Conklin 1973; Dixon 1986), but do these categories predict differences in cognitive processing? The present study explored possible effects of classifier categories in a speeded task preventing significant deliberation and strategic responding. Participants counted objects in a visual display that were intermixed with distractor objects that had either the same Mandarin classifier or a different one. Classifier categories predicted Mandarin speakers' search performance, as Mandarin speakers showed greater interference from distractors with the same classifier than did Russian or English speakers. This result suggests that classifier categories may affect cognitive processing, and may have the potential to influence how speakers of classifier languages perform cognitive tasks in everyday situations. Two theoretical accounts of the results are discussed.

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.

Discourse-pragmatic principles for temporal reference in Mandarin Chinese conversation

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Temporal System ◽  
Temporal Location ◽  
Narrative Context ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
Dynamic Time

This study investigates the Mandarin temporal system in ordinary conversations. It is found that during the dynamic time course of interaction, Mandarin speakers tend to rely more heavily on certain underlying principles, rather than on overt markers, to convey temporal location: In a narrative context, temporal reference is almost always established at the beginning of the story and is not subsequently changed, provided that there is a continuity of action across the verbs. In contexts where turn-by-turn talk is at work, speakers tend to establish the time reference through the inherent semantics of the verbs being employed. The data also suggest that other factors, such as shared knowledge and discourse co-text, appear to play a significant role in helping disambiguate the temporal standpoint of utterances which otherwise have potentially competing temporal anchors.

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