Second Language Perception of Mandarin Vowels and Tones

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Phonetics
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Native English speakers often find Mandarin tones difficult to distinguish.
• Previous research suggests English speakers may assimilate Mandarin sounds to their native phonology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the discrimination of Mandarin vowels and tones by English speakers with varying Mandarin experience.
• To determine the relative difficulty of Mandarin vowels versus tones for English learners at different stages.
• To identify the sources of difficulty in perceiving Mandarin sounds.

Main Methods:

• An AXB discrimination task was used with three groups: advanced learners, beginning learners, and a Mandarin-naïve group.
• Stimuli included two Mandarin vowel contrasts (/li-ly/, /lu-ly/) and two tonal contrasts (T1-T4, T2-T3).
• Hypotheses on contrast difficulty were based on assimilation to English phonology.

Main Results:

• Mandarin-naïve speakers were more accurate with vowels than tones.
• Learner groups showed improved accuracy on most contrasts, especially /li-ly/ and T1-T4, compared to the naïve group.
• All groups performed poorly on the T2-T3 tonal contrast.

Conclusions:

• Mandarin experience enhances English speakers' sensitivity to tonal distinctions.
• The T2-T3 tonal contrast appears inherently difficult for English speakers, regardless of experience.
• Perception of non-native sounds is influenced by multiple factors beyond native language experience.