Native language, L2 experience, and pitch processing in music

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ao Chen ◽  
Melis Çetinçelik ◽  
M. Paula Roncaglia-Denissen ◽  
Makiko Sadakata
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
Sound Discrimination ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Tone Discrimination

Abstract The current study investigated how the role of pitch in one’s native language and L2 experience influenced musical melodic processing by testing Turkish and Mandarin Chinese advanced and beginning learners of English as an L2. Pitch has a lower functional load and shows a simpler pattern in Turkish than in Chinese as the former only contrasts between presence and the absence of pitch elevation, while the latter makes use of four different pitch contours lexically. Using the Musical Ear Test as the tool, we found that the Chinese listeners outperformed the Turkish listeners, and the advanced L2 learners outperformed the beginning learners. The Turkish listeners were further tested on their discrimination of bisyllabic Chinese lexical tones, and again an L2 advantage was observed. No significant difference was found for working memory between the beginning and advanced L2 learners. These results suggest that richness of tonal inventory of the native language is essential for triggering a music processing advantage, and on top of the tone language advantage, the L2 experience yields a further enhancement. Yet, unlike the tone language advantage that seems to relate to pitch expertise, learning an L2 seems to improve sound discrimination in general, and such improvement exhibits in non-native lexical tone discrimination.

scholarly journals The development of consonant and lexical-tone discrimination between 3 and 6 years: Effect of language exposure

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1249-1263
Author(s):  
Laurianne Cabrera ◽  
Ranka Bijeljac-Babic ◽  
Josiane Bertoncini
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Tone Discrimination

Aims and objectives:The present study explored children’s discrimination capacities for lexical tones and consonants between 3 and 6 years of age and the effect of native language on this ability. Recent studies in infants have shown a perceptual rebound for non-native listeners during the second year of life, but only for lexical tones. However, the later stages of development, and particularly when children start pre-school, are yet not clear.Design:Discrimination abilities of 134 children were measured in three age groups between 3 and 6 years using a behavioural task where children detected a change in lexical tones or consonants. Children were either French monolinguals, French bilinguals exposed to an Asian tone language or French bilinguals exposed to a second non-tone language at home.Data and analysis:Overall, results indicated that higher detection scores for consonants were observed from 4 to 5 years, while for lexical tones the highest scores were observed only at 5–6 years. Moreover, bilingual children exposed to an Asian tone language had higher scores for tones compared to monolingual French children. Interestingly, both bilingual groups, whether exposed to an Asian tone language or to a non-tone language, had better scores for tones than for French consonants, while monolinguals performed equally with both.Conclusions:Language exposure from an early age influences phonological development and bilingualism seems to enhance the perception of prosodic information.Originality:This study is the first to show a different developmental trajectory for consonant and lexical-tone discrimination between 3 and 6 years according to the native language.Significance:Similar detection scores for tones and consonants for monolingual French children and better detection for tones than for consonants for both groups of bilinguals suggest that the perception of lexical tone is determined by both language-specific influences and non-linguistic/auditory processing during childhood.

scholarly journals The role of spectro-temporal fine structure cues in lexical-tone discrimination for French and Mandarin listeners

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 877-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurianne Cabrera ◽  
Feng-Ming Tsao ◽  
Dan Gnansia ◽  
Josiane Bertoncini ◽  
Christian Lorenzi
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Temporal Fine Structure ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Discrimination

De Invloed Van Snelheid Van Woordherkenning en Kennis Van Woordbetekenis op Nt2-Tekstbegrip

2000 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Kirsten van Ingen
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Secondary Education ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Significant Relation ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Vocabulary

The performance in Dutch reading comprehension of advanced L2 learners still lags behind the performance of L1 learners. This study investigates the role of inefficient word recognition and knowledge of L2 vocabulary as two of the explanatory factors for problems with reading comprehension. The results of this study show that inefficient word recognition cannot account for problems with reading comprehension of L2-learners at the intermediate level of secondary education. There was no significant difference between the speed of word recognition between L2 learners and L1 learners. Nor was there relation between the score on reading comprehension and speed of word recognition. Knowledge of vocabulary does show differences between L2 learners and L1 learners. L2 learners score significantly less and, in contrast with the L1 learners, they show a significant relation between the knowledge of vocabulary and the score on reading comprehension.

Tunes and Tones: Music, Language, and Inhibitory Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
Robert E. Graham ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Stroop Tasks

Abstract A debate is underway regarding the perceptual and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and musical experience. This study contributes to the debate by investigating auditory inhibitory control in English-speaking monolingual musicians, non-musicians, tone language bilinguals, and non-tone language bilinguals. We predicted that musicians and tone language bilinguals would demonstrate enhanced processing relative to monolinguals and other bilinguals. Groups of monolinguals (N = 22), monolingual musicians (N = 19), non-tone language bilinguals (N = 20) and tone language bilinguals (N = 18) were compared on auditory Stroop tasks to assess domain-transferable processing benefits (e.g. auditory inhibitory control) resulting from potentially shared underlying cognitive mechanisms (Patel, 2003; Bialystok & DePape, 2009). In one task, participants heard the words “high” and “low” presented in high or low pitches, and responded regarding the pitch of the stimuli as quickly as possible. In another task, participants heard the words “rise” or “fall” presented in rising or falling pitch contours, and responded regarding the contour of the stimuli as quickly as possible. Results suggest transferable auditory inhibitory control benefits for musicians across pitch and contour processing, but any possible enhanced processing for speakers of tone languages may be task-dependent, as lexical tone activation may interfere with pitch contour processing.

WHY ARE LEXICAL TONES DIFFICULT TO LEARN?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricky KW Chan ◽  
Janny HC Leung
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
Level Tone

AbstractL2 sounds present different kinds of challenges to learners at the phonetic, phonological, and lexical levels, but previous studies on L2 tone learning mostly focused on the phonetic and lexical levels. The present study employs an innovative technique to examine the role of prior tonal experience and musical training on forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories. Eighty Cantonese and English musicians and nonmusicians completed two tasks: (a) AX tone discrimination and (b) incidental learning of artificial tone-segment connections (e.g., words beginning with an aspirated stop always carry a rising tone) with synthesized stimuli modeled on Thai. Although the four participant groups distinguished the target tones similarly well, Cantonese speakers showed abstract and implicit knowledge of the target tone-segment mappings after training but English speakers did not, regardless of their musical experience. This suggests that tone language experience, but not musical experience, is crucial for forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories.

scholarly journals Combination of absolute pitch and tone language experience enhances lexical tone perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshay R. Maggu ◽  
Joseph C. Y. Lau ◽  
Mary M. Y. Waye ◽  
Patrick C. M. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Response Measures

AbstractAbsolute pitch (AP), a unique ability to name or produce pitch without any reference, is known to be influenced by genetic and cultural factors. AP and tone language experience are both known to promote lexical tone perception. However, the effects of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception are currently not known. In the current study, using behavioral (Categorical Perception) and electrophysiological (Frequency Following Response) measures, we investigated the effect of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception. We found that the Cantonese speakers with AP outperformed the Cantonese speakers without AP on Categorical Perception and Frequency Following Responses of lexical tones, suggesting an additive effect due to the combination of AP and tone language experience. These findings suggest a role of basic sensory pre-attentive auditory processes towards pitch encoding in AP. Further, these findings imply a common mechanism underlying pitch encoding in AP and tone language perception.

The role of the native language in the use of the English nongeneric definite article by L2 learners: A cross-linguistic comparison

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Chrabaszcz ◽  
Nan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners

The study uses an elicited imitation (EI) task to examine the effect of the native language on the use of the English nongeneric definite article by highly proficient first-language (L1) Spanish and Russian speakers and to test the hierarchy of article difficulty first proposed by Liu and Gleason (2002). Our findings suggest that there is a clear influence of L1 on participants’ reproduction of the second-language (L2) definite article in nongeneric contexts, but that various contexts present different levels of difficulty for the two L1 groups. The participants whose L1 is Spanish – a language with an article system – perform at a native-like level of accuracy in the grammatical condition of the test, whereas the participants whose L1 is Russian – a language without articles – demonstrate a tendency to omit definite articles in the same contexts. In the ungrammatical condition, Spanish speakers differ from the native speaker control group in their suppliance of the definite article in conventional and cultural contexts, while Russian participants supply the definite article significantly less than both the Spanish participants and the control group along all article categories. The study offers novel insights into what constitutes article difficulty for L2 learners from different L1s.

Gender Difference in Voice Onset Time

1992 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 983-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradford L. Swartz
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Gender Difference ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Significant Gender Difference ◽  
Communication Disorder ◽  
Significant Difference

Voice onset time is known to be affected by phonetic context, age, native language of the speaker, or presence of a communication disorder in the speaker. The role of gender in VOT production has not been investigated. The present study reports a significant gender difference in VOT production of the /d/ and /t/ stops, with men having shorter VOTs than women ( n subjects = 16). Qualitative differences in VOT based on gender are also noted. Although a significant difference in speaking rate between the genders was found, this was not correlated with VOT. Gender differences in VOT have implications for other research.

The acquisition of null and overt pronominals in Japanese by English speakers

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazue Kanno
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Null Pronouns ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners

This article reports on an experimental study that examines the role of UG in the L2 acquisition of Japanese by English speakers. The study focuses on the acquisition of the principle that prevents overt pronouns from having quantified NPs as antecedents in languages (such as Japanese) that have null pronouns. A group of 28 English speakers taking a fourth semester course in Japanese were asked to interpret the null and overt pronominal in the Japanese equivalent of patterns such as Everyone i thinks he/Øi is smart.Not only did the L2 learners exhibit a statistically significant difference in their interpretation of null and overt pronominals with respect to binding by a quantified NP, consistent with the UG principle, but their performance was not significantly different from that of a native-speaker control group.

scholarly journals Effects of musical ear training on lexical tone perception

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Evan D Bradley ◽  
Janet G Van Hell
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Tone Discrimination

The effect of short term musical experience on lexical tone perception was examined by administering four hours of daily musical ear training to non-tone language speakers. After training, participants showed some improvement in a tone labeling task, but not a tone discrimination task; however, this improvement did not differ reliably from controls indicating that short-term musical training is thus far not able to replicate language effects observed among lifelong musicians, but some linguistic differences between musicians and nonmusicians may likely be due to experience, rather than individual differences or other factors.

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