Effects of linguistic experience on the perception of high-variability non-native tones

Chang, Yung Hsiang Shawn; Yao, Yao; Huang, Becky H.

doi:10.1121/1.4976037

Cited by 25 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Previous tone training studies found that stimulus variability of syllables and speaker would modulate the perceptual learning outcome [48,[65][66][67][68]. Thus, a future direction of this line of research is to investigate whether a greater or a smaller acoustic variability (of syllables and/or speakers) of training stimuli would modulate the size of the overnight consolidation effect in facilitating the abstraction of novel phonetic information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

Qin

Zhang

2019

Preprint

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Sleep-mediated overnight consolidation was found to facilitate perceptual learning by promoting learners' generalization across talkers in their perception of novel segmental categories. Lexical tone differs from most segmental contrasts in that it is highly variable across talkers, and displays dynamic change over time. It remains unclear whether a similar (or a larger) effect of overnight consolidation would be found for perceptual learning of novel tonal contrasts. Thus, this study aims to examine whether overnight consolidation facilitates generalization across talkers in the discrimination and identification of novel Cantonese level tones by Mandarin listeners. Two groups of Mandarin listeners were perceptually trained either in the morning or in the evening.Listeners were trained in a tone identification (ID) task using stimuli produced by a trained talker.Their development was then tested in the ID and AX discrimination tasks using stimuli produced by trained and untrained talkers in three posttests following training: immediately after training, 12-hour delay, and 24-hour delay. While the evening group slept between the first and second posttests, the morning group did not. The results of accuracy rates in the ID task showed that while Mandarin listeners trained in the evening showed an improved trend, predicted by their individual sleep time, in identifying the level tones produced by both the trained and untrained talkers, Mandarin listeners trained in the morning showed a declining trend. In contrast, the results of d-prime scores in the AX discrimination task did not show different developmental patterns between the two groups. Consistent with previous studies on segmental learning, the finding suggests that overnight consolidation might have assisted the evening trainees' formation of a more abstract (talker-independent) representation of novel tone categories in memory traces.The results are discussed regarding the features of lexical tones to shed light on the mechanism of phonetic learning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, Mandarin listeners are more sensitive to pitch contour than pitch height [44][45][46][47]. Specifically, Mandarin listeners had a great difficulty distinguishing (e.g., Cantonese) level-level tonal contrasts [35,[48][49][50][51].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

Qin

Zhang

2019

Preprint

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“…Research on how L1 experience shapes the perception of non-native prosody, however, is inconclusive. Other studies support the claim that linguistic experience with a broad prosodic category does, in fact, facilitate perception of nonnative prosodic categories, e.g., [9,10]. One source of evidence for this claim comes from [10] in which native Mandarin listeners outperformed native English listeners in a Cantonese tone identification task with speaker normalization cues controlled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Perceptual assimilation of non-native prosodic cues: Cross-linguistic effects of lexical F0 learning

Wiener¹,

Goss²

2018

Speech Prosody 2018

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This preliminary study examines how first (L1) and second language (L2) experience with lexical fundamental frequency (F0) variations affect the perception of Japanese pitch accent. Japanese-L1 speakers and English-L1 speakers performed an ABX discrimination task and a 3-alternative-forced-choice (3-AFC) categorization task with instructions given in participants' native language. Results support previous findings on non-native perception: Japanese-L1 speakers' were more accurate at both tasks than English-L1 speakers. The English-L1 group then completed a 15-week university level introductory Mandarin Chinese language course in which learners were taught the lexical role of F0, i.e., tone. At the end of their L2 language training, the English-L1 group was retested using the same ABX and 3-AFC tasks and stimuli. Participants' accuracy equaled that of Japanese-L1 listeners in both tasks. Analyses of listeners' sensitivity (d') revealed a statistical improvement in the ABX task but not in the 3-AFC task. These preliminary results suggest that learning lexical F0 variations in an L2 can influence the perception of an additional non-native language that utilizes lexical F0 cues (i.e., at the phonological level) as well as the discrimination of prosodic categories that share overlapping F0 contours (i.e., at the phonetic level). These findings are compatible with models of perceptual assimilation of suprasegmentals.

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“…On the other hand, our approach clearly affected the overall rater accuracy, (cf. Chang, Yao, & Huang, ) and contributed to only moderate agreement among raters. We recognize that if raters were given more exemplars from each participant, and thus had become more familiar with the acoustics of each speaker's voice, we may have found a different pattern of results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Explicit Instruction and High Variability Phonetic Training Improve Nonnative Speakers’ Mandarin Tone Productions?

Wiener

Chan

Ito

2020

The Modern Language Journal

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This study examines the putative benefits of explicit phonetic instruction, high variability phonetic training, and their effects on adult nonnative speakers’ Mandarin tone productions. Monolingual first language (L1) English speakers (n = 80), intermediate second language (L2) Mandarin learners (n = 40), and L1 Mandarin speakers (n = 40) took part in a multiday Mandarin‐like artificial language learning task. Participants were asked to repeat a syllable–tone combination immediately after hearing it. Half of all participants were exposed to speech from 1 talker (low variability) while the other half heard speech from 4 talkers (high variability). Half of the L1 English participants were given daily explicit instruction on Mandarin tone contours, while the other half were not. Tone accuracy was measured by L1 Mandarin raters (n = 104) who classified productions according to their perceived tonal category. Explicit instruction of tone contours facilitated L1 English participants’ production of rising and falling tone contours. High variability input alone had no main effect on participants’ productions but interacted with explicit instruction to improve participants’ productions of high‐level tone contours. These results motivate an L2 tone production training approach that consists of explicit tone instruction followed by gradual exposure to more variable speech.

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Effects of linguistic experience on the perception of high-variability non-native tones

Cited by 25 publications

References 16 publications

The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts

Perceptual assimilation of non-native prosodic cues: Cross-linguistic effects of lexical F0 learning

Do Explicit Instruction and High Variability Phonetic Training Improve Nonnative Speakers’ Mandarin Tone Productions?

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