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The Production and the Perception of English Vowels by Mandarin Speakers

The Production and the Perception of English Vowels by Mandarin Speakers
Author: Zhaoru Yu
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:
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This study set out to examine how correctly Mandarin speakers produced and perceived English vowels and to explore the relationship between the production and the perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers. Fifteen native Mandarin speakers, who had lived in Canada for at least two years and received an IELTS score of 6.5 or above, participated in this study. Fifteen native speakers of Canadian English living in Vancouver at the time of the study also participated as a control group. Two experiments were conducted involving 10 English vowels: /i/, /I/, /?/, /æ/, /?/, /u/, /?/, /?/, /o/, and /?/. In Experiment 1, both the Mandarin speakers and the native English speakers were recorded producing the ten vowels in a /bVt/ syllable in a carrier sentence. The vowels in the recordings were then identified by four native English listeners. In Experiment 2, the Mandarin speakers did an identification test of the vowels produced by the English speakers in Experiment 1. The results showed that Mandarin speakers in this study were able to produce and perceive certain English vowels correctly, but not all of them. The results also indicated that the relationship between the production and perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers cannot be interpreted in a straightforward way, and that that L2 experience, in terms of length of residence, age of arrival, years of learning, and age when ESL learning starts, might also play an important role in the production and perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers.

Native English Speakers' Acquisition of Mandarin Vowels

Native English Speakers' Acquisition of Mandarin Vowels
Author: Wenhui Zhu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2018
Genre: Chinese language
ISBN:
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This thesis investigates the perception and production of Mandarin high and mid vowels: [i], [u], [y], [ɤ], [ɹ̪] and [ɻ] in dental, retroflex and palatal fricative and affricate contexts by adult NZE native-speakers. It is found that factors, such as L1 transfer, L2 experience and markedness all influence the perception and production of target Mandarin vowels by learners. The perceptual categorization of target vowels is assessed with a cross-language perceptual mapping task by 11 naïve speakers of NZE; the perceptual identification and discrimination of target vowels are examined with an identification task completed by 19 learners with medium or low Mandarin experience. The results of the two tasks indicate that the way two Mandarin vowels are categorized into NZE vowels determines the perceptual discrimination between the two Mandarin vowels by learners exactly as the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) (Best, 1995; Best & Tyler, 2007) predicts. Mandarin [i] is assimilated as a good instance to the NZE category /i/, while Mandarin [y] and [u] are both assimilated as only fair instances to the NZE category /u/. This leads to a high level of inaccuracy in discrimination by learners for the Mandarin contrast [u]-[y], but not for [i]-[u] or [i]-[y]. The three mid vowels [ɤ], [ɹ̪] and [ɻ] are not categorized into any NZE vowel category, the discriminations between two uncategorized vowels [ɤ] and [ɹ̪], [ɤ] and [ɻ] are difficult, but learners can easily discriminate [ɹ̪] from [ɻ]. This is probably because [ɹ̪] and [ɻ] are in complementary distribution and their preceding consonants may provide additional clues for learners to tell them apart. L2 experience plays a significant role in the perceptual identification accuracy for vowels [y], [u], [ɤ] but not for [i] as the Speech Learning Model (SLM) (Flege, 1995) predicts. SLM proposes that L2 experience has a more obvious effect on L2 sounds which are perceptually less similar to L1 sounds than L2 sounds which are perceptually more similar to L1 sounds. Vowels [y], [u], [ɤ] with at best a fair fit are less similar vowels in SLM, [i] with a good fit is a more similar vowel in SLM. However, language experience does not play a significant role in the perception of the less similar vowels [ɹ̪] and [ɻ]. This can be explained by the high markedness of these two phones which delay the influence of L2 experience. The production of Mandarin vowels is assessed with interpretations by NS judges and an acoustic analysis. The interpretation indicates there is no significant difference in the production of target vowels by learners with more or less experience, however the acoustic analysis shows there are statistically significant acoustic differences in the production of all target vowels by learners with more or less experience of Mandarin; with the production by more advanced learners being closer to Native speaker targets. Although there is a significant correlation between the overall perception and production for all target vowels and all learners, there is no consistent and statistically significant relationship between the perception and production of each target vowel and each learner.

Speech Perception, Production and Acquisition

Speech Perception, Production and Acquisition
Author: Huei‐Mei Liu
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2020-09-14
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9811576068
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This book addresses important issues of speech processing and language learning in Chinese. It highlights perception and production of speech in healthy and clinical populations and in children and adults. This book provides diverse perspectives and reviews of cutting-edge research in past decades on how Chinese speech is processed and learned. Along with each chapter, future research directions have been discussed. With these unique features and the broad coverage of topics, this book appeals to not only scholars and students who study speech perception in preverbal infants and in children and adults learning Chinese, but also to teachers with interests in pedagogical applications in teaching Chinese as Second Language.

SPEECH PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH A

SPEECH PERCEPTION OF ENGLISH A
Author: Mian Wu
Publisher: Open Dissertation Press
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781361041055
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This dissertation, "Speech Perception of English as a Foreign Language by Mandarin Chinese Speakers" by Mian, Wu, 吴冕, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Numerous studies have been conducted on speech perception of English as a second language (ESL) by learners who live in English-speaking countries. However, little is known about learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) who have limited exposure to native English on a daily basis. With more access to higher education, better employment opportunities and wider interpersonal networks, increasing number of Chinese speakers have been motivated to study English as a foreign language. The present study examined Mandarin EFL learners' ability to perceive English phonemes and sentences. In addition, we investigated the influence of linguistic variables including proficiency in English, the amount of exposure to English and the amount of English use on Mandarin EFL learners' perception of English. Finally how segmental perception could influence sentence recognition in noise was also examined. Sixty adult native Mandarin Chinese EFL speakers with relatively high proficiency in English were recruited. Vowel perception was assessed using a vowel identification test and sentence recognition thresholds (SRTs) were obtained using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT). Information on language background was collected using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q). Results showed that none of the Mandarin EFL speakers achieved native-like perception of English vowels and sentences. However, better performance was found among those with higher proficiency in English. In the vowel identification test, the English vowels /eɪ/ and /i/ were relatively better perceived than others by Mandarin EFL speakers. Furthermore, consistent confusions of the contrasts /ae/-/ɛ/, /ɑ/-/ʌ/, and /u/-/ʊ/ were observed. Correlation analyses showed no significant relationship of exposure and usage factors with performance. Significant correlation of vowel identification and sentence recognition was observed among listeners with relatively less exposure and usage of EFL (r = .78), but not among listeners with higher exposure and usage of EFL. In conclusion, results of vowel identification suggested that Mandarin EFL speakers' perception of English phonemes was interfered by their first language. The influences of exposure and usage on perceptual ability seemed to depend on an early age of learning English and sufficient immersion in English environments. Segmental perception affected higher-level recognition, but only for EFL learners with little exposure and usage. It indicated that these learners might rely more on bottom-up information while learners with greater exposure and usage might have made better use of top-down processing. These findings provided empirical evidence of how EFL speakers perceived English phonemes and sentences, and provided insights into application of ESL models to predict the ability to understand speech, particularly in noise, among EFL speakers. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5328030 Subjects: Speech perception

Perception and Production of Mandarin Tones by Native Speakers and L2 Learners

Perception and Production of Mandarin Tones by Native Speakers and L2 Learners
Author: Bei Yang
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2015-02-10
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 3662446456
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Tones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese as a second language, and L2 learners’ perceptual categories differ in important and fascinating ways from those of native speakers. This book explores the relationship between tone perception and production among native speakers and non-native learners as illustrated in the experiments the author conducted with native speakers, true learners and heritage learners, all of whom were tested on their ability to produce tones naturally and to perceive 81 synthesized tones in various contexts. The experiments show that each group processes tones differently with regard to both register (tonal level) and contour (tonal shape). The results also reveal how three types of cues – acoustic, psychological and contextual – influence non-native speakers’ tone perception and production.

Vowel Production and Perception of Chinese-English Bilingual Children in an English Immersion School

Vowel Production and Perception of Chinese-English Bilingual Children in an English Immersion School
Author: KuanYi Chao
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre: Chinese language
ISBN:
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Previous studies on second language (L2) phonetic acquisition in early bilingual learners have mainly examined immigrants to the L2 country; however, with recent growing dual-language immersion programs, the immersed bilingual group emerged and required more attention in the research. This study aims to investigate vowel patterns of young Chinese-English immersed bilingual learners in the domains of perception and production. Of particular interest is how language experience and consonantal context affect their vowel structures in both languages. To explore this, three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 tested participants' identification of Mandarin and English vowels. Experiment 2 evaluated their perceived similarity of English vowels to Mandarin categories. Experiment 3 examined the acoustic properties of their vowel productions in both languages. The results of the identification task revealed that the immersed bilingual children had relatively stable structures in the perception of Mandarin vowels, but their perceptual organization of English vowels was still developing. In terms of the perceptual assimilation of English to Mandarin vowels, the results showed that the assimilation patterns demonstrated an influence of L2 immersion experience. With respect to production, although the immersed bilingual children established a stable L1 vowel system, their Mandarin vowel production still revealed a potential L2-to-L1 influence. For the production of English vowels, they developed an English-like quadrilateral vowel shape, but some vowel categories were still not distinct from others as compared to the same-aged English-speaking monolingual speakers. With regard to the two effects, the language experience had more evident influence on learners' production and the assimilation patterns as older children usually had different speech performance than younger ones. Finally, consonantal context was found to have a pervasively significant influence on speech production and perception as vowels were usually less identified, occupied different positions in the acoustic space or had different assimilation patterns in the coronal context.