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The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones

This study investigates the effects of L1 tonal density and typology on naïve listeners’ perception of L2 Cantonese tones and pitch-equivalent pure tones. Native speakers of two canonical tone languages (Vietnamese and Mandarin) and a pitch-accent language (Japanese) with varying degrees of tonal de...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhu, Min, Chen, Fei, Chen, Xiaoxiang, Yang, Yuxiao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10513246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37733777
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291828
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author Zhu, Min
Chen, Fei
Chen, Xiaoxiang
Yang, Yuxiao
author_facet Zhu, Min
Chen, Fei
Chen, Xiaoxiang
Yang, Yuxiao
author_sort Zhu, Min
collection PubMed
description This study investigates the effects of L1 tonal density and typology on naïve listeners’ perception of L2 Cantonese tones and pitch-equivalent pure tones. Native speakers of two canonical tone languages (Vietnamese and Mandarin) and a pitch-accent language (Japanese) with varying degrees of tonal density were recruited as listeners in a discrimination task followed by a perceptual assimilation task. Results implied that Mandarin listeners with a sparser tone inventory exhibited significantly better performance than Vietnamese listeners, suggesting that denser tonality in L1 did not facilitate or even interfere with L2 tone perception. Furthermore, both groups of canonical tone listeners processed pitch contours in a domain-general manner, with comparable performance in the perception of lexical tones and pure tones. However, Japanese listeners of the pitch-accent language perceived pure tones better than lexical tones, showing a domain-specific mechanism. These findings suggest that both L1 tonal density and typology may modulate the perception of non-native tones.
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spelling pubmed-105132462023-09-22 The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones Zhu, Min Chen, Fei Chen, Xiaoxiang Yang, Yuxiao PLoS One Research Article This study investigates the effects of L1 tonal density and typology on naïve listeners’ perception of L2 Cantonese tones and pitch-equivalent pure tones. Native speakers of two canonical tone languages (Vietnamese and Mandarin) and a pitch-accent language (Japanese) with varying degrees of tonal density were recruited as listeners in a discrimination task followed by a perceptual assimilation task. Results implied that Mandarin listeners with a sparser tone inventory exhibited significantly better performance than Vietnamese listeners, suggesting that denser tonality in L1 did not facilitate or even interfere with L2 tone perception. Furthermore, both groups of canonical tone listeners processed pitch contours in a domain-general manner, with comparable performance in the perception of lexical tones and pure tones. However, Japanese listeners of the pitch-accent language perceived pure tones better than lexical tones, showing a domain-specific mechanism. These findings suggest that both L1 tonal density and typology may modulate the perception of non-native tones. Public Library of Science 2023-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10513246/ /pubmed/37733777 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291828 Text en © 2023 Zhu et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhu, Min
Chen, Fei
Chen, Xiaoxiang
Yang, Yuxiao
The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title_full The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title_fullStr The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title_full_unstemmed The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title_short The more the better? Effects of L1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
title_sort more the better? effects of l1 tonal density and typology on the perception of non-native tones
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10513246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37733777
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291828
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