14,628 research outputs found
Production and perception of tones by Dutch learners of Mandarin
The function of pitch
movements varies across languages. Tone languages, such as Mandarin Chinese,
use pitch configurations to differentiate between word forms. For non-tone
languages (such as Dutch and English), pitch information is mainly used at the
post-lexical level, e.g., to signal sentential prominence or delimit prosodic
constituents. Therefore, learning to use lexical tones is always difficult for
non-tone second language learners of Mandarin who are not familiar with using
pitch information in a lexically contrastive way. This thesis investigates
various aspects of production and perception of tones by beginning and advanced
Dutch learners of Mandarin. Through a series of four experiments, this thesis
examines the developmental path of Dutch learners of Mandarin at the university
level in their acquisition of fine-grained tonal coarticulation patterns,
distribution of attention between segments and tones, phonological processing
of tones and using tonal information in spoken word recognition. The mechanisms
underlying the learners’ tone acquisition are discussed with reference to
current theories and models of second language acquisition and spoken word
recognition. China Scholarship Council
Leiden University Centre for LinguisticsTheoretical and Experimental Linguistic
Perception of nonnative tonal contrasts by Mandarin-English and English-Mandarin sequential bilinguals
This study examined the role of acquisition order and crosslinguistic similarity in influencing transfer at the initial stage of perceptually acquiring a tonal third language (L3). Perception of tones in Yoruba and Thai was tested in adult sequential bilinguals representing three different first (L1) and second language (L2) backgrounds: L1 Mandarin-L2 English (MEBs), L1 English-L2 Mandarin (EMBs), and L1 English-L2 intonational/non-tonal (EIBs). MEBs outperformed EMBs and EIBs in discriminating L3 tonal contrasts in both languages, while EMBs showed a small advantage over EIBs on Yoruba. All groups showed better overall discrimination in Thai than Yoruba, but group differences were more robust in Yoruba. MEBs’ and EMBs’ poor discrimination of certain L3 contrasts was further reflected in the L3 tones being perceived as similar to the same Mandarin tone; however, EIBs, with no knowledge of Mandarin, showed many of the same similarity judgments. These findings thus suggest that L1 tonal experience has a particularly facilitative effect in L3 tone perception, but there is also a facilitative effect of L2 tonal experience. Further, crosslinguistic perceptual similarity between L1/L2 and L3 tones, as well as acoustic similarity between different L3 tones, play a significant role at this early stage of L3 tone acquisition.Published versio
Pitch ability as an aptitude for tone learning
Tone languages such as Mandarin use voice pitch to signal lexical contrasts, presenting a challenge for second/foreign language (L2) learners whose native languages do not use pitch in this manner. The present study examined components of an aptitude for mastering L2 lexical tone. Native English speakers with no previous tone language experience completed a Mandarin word learning task, as well as tests of pitch ability, musicality, L2 aptitude, and general cognitive ability. Pitch ability measures improved predictions of learning performance beyond musicality, L2 aptitude, and general cognitive ability and also predicted transfer of learning to new talkers. In sum, although certain nontonal measures help predict successful tone learning, the central components of tonal aptitude are pitch-specific perceptual measures
Strategies for Representing Tone in African Writing Systems
Tone languages provide some interesting challenges for the designers of new orthographies.
One approach is to omit tone marks, just as stress is not marked in English (zero marking).
Another approach is to do phonemic tone analysis and then make heavy use of diacritic
symbols to distinguish the `tonemes' (exhaustive marking). While orthographies based on
either system have been successful, this may be thanks to our ability to manage inadequate
orthographies rather than to any intrinsic advantage which is afforded by one or the other
approach. In many cases, practical experience with both kinds of orthography in sub-Saharan
Africa has shown that people have not been able to attain the level of reading and writing
fluency that we know to be possible for the orthographies of non-tonal languages. In some
cases this can be attributed to a sociolinguistic setting which does not favour vernacular
literacy. In other cases, the orthography itself might be to blame. If the orthography of a tone
language is difficult to user or to learn, then a good part of the reason, I believe, is that the
designer either has not paid enough attention to the function of tone in the language, or has
not ensured that the information encoded in the orthography is accessible to the ordinary
(non-linguist) user of the language. If the writing of tone is not going to continue to be a
stumbling block to literacy efforts, then a fresh approach to tone orthography is required, one
which assigns high priority to these two factors.
This article describes the problems with orthographies that use too few or too many tone
marks, and critically evaluates a wide range of creative intermediate solutions. I review the
contributions made by phonology and reading theory, and provide some broad methodological
principles to guide someone who is seeking to represent tone in a writing system. The tone
orthographies of several languages from sub-Saharan Africa are presented throughout the
article, with particular emphasis on some tone languages of Cameroon
Individual differences in the discrimination of novel speech sounds: effects of sex, temporal processing, musical and cognitive abilities
This study examined whether rapid temporal auditory processing, verbal working memory capacity, non-verbal intelligence, executive functioning, musical ability and prior foreign language experience predicted how well native English speakers (N = 120) discriminated Norwegian tonal and vowel contrasts as well as a non-speech analogue of the tonal contrast and a native vowel contrast presented over noise. Results confirmed a male advantage for temporal and tonal processing, and also revealed that temporal processing was associated with both non-verbal intelligence and speech processing. In contrast, effects of musical ability on non-native speech-sound processing and of inhibitory control on vowel discrimination were not mediated by temporal processing. These results suggest that individual differences in non-native speech-sound processing are to some extent determined by temporal auditory processing ability, in which males perform better, but are also determined by a host of other abilities that are deployed flexibly depending on the characteristics of the target sounds
Phonological similarity effects in Cantonese word recognition
Two lexical decision experiments in Cantonese are described in which the recognition of spoken target words as a function of phonological similarity to a preceding prime is investigated. Phonological similaritv in first syllables produced inhibition, while similarity in second syllables led to facilitation. Differences between syllables in tonal and segmental structure had generally similar effects
Orthography and Identity in Cameroon
The tone languages of sub-Saharan Africa
raise challenging questions for the design
of new writing systems. Marking too much or too little tone can have
grave consequences for the usability of an orthography.
Orthography development, past and present, rests on a
raft of sociolinguistic issues having little to do with the
technical phonological concerns that usually preoccupy orthographers.
Some of these issues
are familiar from the spelling reforms which have taken place
in European languages. However, many of the issues faced in
sub-Saharan Africa are
different, being concerned with the creation of new writing systems
in a multi-ethnic context: residual colonial influences, the
construction of new nation-states, detribalization versus
culture preservation and language reclamation, and so on.
Language development projects which crucially rely on creating
or revising orthographies may founder if they do not attend to
the various layers of identity that are indexed by orthography:
whether colonial, national, ethnic, local or individual identity.
In this study, I review the history and politics
of orthography in Cameroon, with a focus on tone marking.
The paper concludes by calling present-day orthographers to
a deeper and broader understanding of orthographic issues
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