Tone language experience modulates the effect of long-term musical training on musical pitch perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
pp. 690-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuli Tong ◽  
William Choi ◽  
Yuen Ying Man
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Musical Pitch

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 Musicianship Influences Language Effect on Musical Pitch Perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Choi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Facilitatory Effect ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Musical Pitch ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Practical Implications

Given its practical implications, the effect of musicianship on language learning has been vastly researched. Interestingly, growing evidence also suggests that language experience can facilitate music perception. However, the precise nature of this facilitation is not fully understood. To address this research gap, I investigated the interactive effect of language and musicianship on musical pitch and rhythmic perception. Cantonese and English listeners, each divided into musician and non-musician groups, completed the Musical Ear Test and the Raven’s 2 Progressive Matrices. Essentially, an interactive effect of language and musicianship was found on musical pitch but not rhythmic perception. Consistent with previous studies, Cantonese language experience appeared to facilitate musical pitch perception. However, this facilitatory effect was only present among the non-musicians. Among the musicians, Cantonese language experience did not offer any perceptual advantage. The above findings reflect that musicianship influences the effect of language on musical pitch perception. Together with the previous findings, the new findings offer two theoretical implications for the OPERA hypothesis—bi-directionality and mechanisms through which language experience and musicianship interact in different domains.

scholarly journals FACTORS INFLUENCING SENSITIVITY TO LEXICAL TONE IN AN ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris ◽  
Alia Lancaster ◽  
D. Robert Ladd ◽  
Dan Dediu ◽  
Morten H. Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Artificial Language Learning ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Predictor Of Success

This study examined whether musical training, ethnicity, and experience with a natural tone language influenced sensitivity to tone while listening to an artificial tone language. The language was designed with three tones, modeled after level-tone African languages. Participants listened to a 15-min random concatenation of six 3-syllable words. Sensitivity to tone was assessed using minimal pairs differing only in one syllable (nonword task: e.g., to-kà-su compared to ca-fí-to) or only in tone (tone task: e.g., to-kà-su compared to to-ká-su). Proficiency in an East Asian heritage language was the strongest predictor of success on the tone task. Asians without tone language experience were no better than other ethnic groups. We conclude by considering implications for research on second language learning, especially as approached through artificial language learning.

scholarly journals Speaking a tone language enhances musical pitch perception in 3-5-year-olds

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. e12503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah C. Creel ◽  
Mengxing Weng ◽  
Genyue Fu ◽  
Gail D. Heyman ◽  
Kang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Musical Pitch

scholarly journals Pitch Perception in Tone Language-Speaking Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders

i-Perception ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 204166951771120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella T. T. Cheng ◽  
Gary Y. H. Lam ◽  
Carol K. S. To
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Adults With Asd

Enhanced low-level pitch perception has been universally reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study examined whether tone language speakers with ASD exhibit this advantage. The pitch perception skill of 20 Cantonese-speaking adults with ASD was compared with that of 20 neurotypical individuals. Participants discriminated pairs of real syllable, pseudo-syllable (syllables that do not conform the phonotactic rules or are accidental gaps), and non-speech (syllables with attenuated high-frequency segmental content) stimuli contrasting pitch levels. The results revealed significantly higher discrimination ability in both groups for the non-speech stimuli than for the pseudo-syllables with one semitone difference. No significant group differences were noted. Different from previous findings, post hoc analysis found that enhanced pitch perception was observed in a subgroup of participants with ASD showing no history of delayed speech onset. The tone language experience may have modulated the pitch processing mechanism in the speakers in both ASD and non-ASD groups.

scholarly journals The effects of ethnicity, musicianship, and tone language experience on pitch perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2627-2642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Arthur G Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses

Language and music are intertwined: music training can facilitate language abilities, and language experiences can also help with some music tasks. Possible language–music transfer effects are explored in two experiments in this study. In Experiment 1, we tested native Mandarin, Korean, and English speakers on a pitch discrimination task with two types of sounds: speech sounds and fundamental frequency (F0) patterns derived from speech sounds. To control for factors that might influence participants’ performance, we included cognitive ability tasks testing memory and intelligence. In addition, two music skill tasks were used to examine general transfer effects from language to music. Prior studies showing that tone language speakers have an advantage on pitch tasks have been taken as support for three alternative hypotheses: specific transfer effects, general transfer effects, and an ethnicity effect. In Experiment 1, musicians outperformed non-musicians on both speech and F0 sounds, suggesting a music-to-language transfer effect. Korean and Mandarin speakers performed similarly, and they both outperformed English speakers, providing some evidence for an ethnicity effect. Alternatively, this could be due to population selection bias. In Experiment 2, we recruited Chinese Americans approximating the native English speakers’ language background to further test the ethnicity effect. Chinese Americans, regardless of their tone language experiences, performed similarly to their non–Asian American counterparts in all tasks. Therefore, although this study provides additional evidence of transfer effects across music and language, it casts doubt on the contribution of ethnicity to differences observed in pitch perception and general music abilities.

scholarly journals PITCH MEMORY AND EXPOSURE EFFECTS: Statistical learning and the effects of implicit "absolute pitch" on the perception and evaluation of music

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Shay Ben-Haim ◽  
Zohar Eitan ◽  
Eran Chajut
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Auditory Cognition ◽  
Musical Cognition ◽  
Pitch Frequency

Recent studies indicate that the ability to represent absolute pitch values in long-term memory (LTM), long believed to be the possession of a small minority of trained musicians endowed with "absolute pitch" (AP), is in fact shared to some extent by a considerable proportion of the population. The current study examined whether this newly discovered ability affects aspects of music and auditory cognition, particularly pitch learning and evaluation. Our starting points are two well established premises: (1) frequency of occurrence has an influence on the way we process stimuli; (2) in Western music, some pitches and musical keys are much more frequent than others. Based on these premises, we hypothesize that if absolute pitch values are indeed represented in LTM, pitch frequency of occurrence in music would significantly affect cognitive processes, in particular pitch learning and evaluation. Two experiments were designed to test this hypothesis in participants with no AP, most with little or no musical training. Experiment 1 demonstrated a faster response and a learning advantage for frequent pitches over infrequent pitches in an identification task. In Experiment 2 participants evaluated infrequent pitches as more pleasing than frequent pitches when presented in isolation. These results suggest that absolute pitch representation in memory may play a substantial, hitherto unacknowledged role in auditory (and specifically musical) cognition.

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