The effect of phonotactic structure on novel lexical tone perception

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (4) ◽  
pp. 2812-2812
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wright ◽  
Melissa M. Baese-Berk
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Perception

On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Puisan Wong ◽  
Man Wai Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Auditory Sensitivity ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Tone Discrimination

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.

Effect of Noise on Lexical Tone Perception in Cantonese-Speaking Amusics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shao ◽  
Caicai Zhang ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Yike Yang ◽  
William S.-Y. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Perception

scholarly journals The Derived Allele of ASPM Is Associated with Lexical Tone Perception

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e34243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. M. Wong ◽  
Bharath Chandrasekaran ◽  
Jing Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Perception
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