English and Mandarin native speakers’ cue-weighting of lexical stress: Results from MMN and LDN

Zeng, Zhen; Liu, Liquan; Tuninetti, Alba; Peter, Varghese; Tsao, Feng‐Ming; Mattock, Karen

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105151

Cited by 5 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…A follow-up study focusing only on pitch confirmed that Cantonese English speakers use pitch more than Mandarin English speakers for both word stress perception and word recognition in English (Zhang et al, 2023). Zeng et al (2022) tested two theories on cue weighting during stress perception segmentation based on the rhythmic properties of the native language or based on the iambictrochaic or strong-weak grouping of sounds (Zeng et al, 2022). They found a language-specific familiarity effect (Zeng et al, 2022) in the perception of native and non-native English speakers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…In determining the amount of manipulation on each cue, we aimed for equal salience of the three cue types. Studies on cue perception face the challenge of determining whether the results are based on language-specific cue perception or on the salience of the particular cue (Chrabaszcz et al, 2014;Zeng et al, 2022). To arrive at similar cue salience, we compared the manipulations in previous similar studies (Table 1) On this basis, syllable pitch was increased by 10%, syllable intensity was increased by 6 dB and vowel duration was increased by 1.7, leading to a vowel duration increase of about 68% and syllable increase of 20% in the first and 25% in the second syllable.…”

Section: Stimuli and Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Cantonese English learners rely more on the pitch than the duration of the syllable in comparison to Chinese English learners (Meng et al, 2020) and native English speakers (Tong et al, 2014). Compared to Australian English speakers, Taiwanese Mandarin speakers of English are also more sensitive to pitch cues (Zeng et al, 2022). In view of these differences, it is of interest to investigate word stress cue perception in other language groups, as we will do here for advanced Slavic and German learners of English.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is strong evidence that English speakers from different language backgrounds weight word stress cues differently (Chrabaszcz et al, 2014;Tong et al, 2014;Meng et al, 2020;Zeng et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2023). For instance, Cantonese English learners rely more on the pitch than the duration of the syllable in comparison to Chinese English learners (Meng et al, 2020) and native English speakers (Tong et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zeng et al (2022) tested two theories on cue weighting during stress perception segmentation based on the rhythmic properties of the native language or based on the iambictrochaic or strong-weak grouping of sounds (Zeng et al, 2022). They found a language-specific familiarity effect (Zeng et al, 2022) in the perception of native and non-native English speakers. The MMN and LDN also provided evidence for a trochaic bias in the native English and in the Taiwan English group, which was attributed to the English language skills of the non-native speakers (Zeng et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ERP Evidence for Slavic and German Word Stress Cue Sensitivity in English

Ivanova¹,

Neubert²,

Schmied³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Word stress is demanding for non-native learners of English, partly because speakers from different backgrounds weight perceptual cues to stress like pitch, intensity, and duration differently. Slavic learners of English and particularly those with a fixed stress language background like Czech and Polish have been shown to be less sensitive to stress in their native and non-native languages. In contrast, German English learners are rarely discussed in a word stress context. A comparison of these varieties can account for differences in the foreign language processing of speakers from two language families. We use electroencephalography (EEG) to explore group differences in word stress cue perception between Slavic and German learners of English. Slavic and German advanced English speakers were examined in passive multi-feature oddball experiments, where they were exposed to the word impact as an unstressed standard and as deviants stressed on the first or second syllable through higher pitch, intensity, or duration. The results revealed a robust Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential (ERP) in both language groups in response to all conditions, demonstrating sensitivity to stress changes in a non-native language. While both groups showed higher MMN responses to stress changes to the second than the first syllable, this effect was more pronounced for German than for Slavic participants. Such group differences in non-native English word stress perception from the current and previous studies are argued to speak in favor of customizable language technologies and diversified English curricula compensating for non-native perceptual variation.

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