Lexical tone and pitch perception in tone and non-tone language speakers

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Schwanhäußer ◽  
Denis Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language

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.

Native and nonnative processing of Japanese pitch accent

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIANGHUA WU ◽  
JUNG-YUEH TU ◽  
YUE WANG
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
Nonnative Listeners ◽  
Prosodic Processing ◽  
Japanese Pitch Accent

ABSTRACTThe theoretical framework of this study is based on the prevalent debate of whether prosodic processing is influenced by higher level linguistic-specific circuits or reflects lower level encoding of physical properties. Using the dichotic listening technique, the study investigates the hemispheric processing of Japanese pitch accent by native Japanese listeners and two groups of nonnative listeners with no prior pitch accent experience but differing in their native language experience with linguistic pitch: native listeners of Mandarin (a tone language with higher linguistic functional use of pitch) and native listeners of English (a stress language with lower functional use of pitch). The overall results reveal that, for both native and nonnative listeners, the processing of Japanese pitch accent is less lateralized (compared to lexical tone processing, which has been found to be a left hemisphere property). However, detailed analysis with individual pitch accents across groups shows a right hemisphere preference for processing the high–accent–low (H*L) pattern, a left hemisphere preference for LH*, and no hemisphere dominance for LH, indicating a significant reliance on the acoustic cues. These patterns are particularly prominent with the English listeners who are least experienced with linguistic pitch. Together, the findings suggest an interplay of linguistic and acoustic aspects in the processing of Japanese pitch accent by native and nonnative listeners.

scholarly journals ASPM-lexical tone association in speakers of a tone language: Direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. eaba5090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. M. Wong ◽  
Xin Kang ◽  
Kay H. Y. Wong ◽  
Hon-Cheong So ◽  
Kwong Wai Choy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Statistical Studies

How language has evolved into more than 7000 varieties today remains a question that puzzles linguists, anthropologists, and evolutionary scientists. The genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution postulates that genes and language features coevolve, such that a population that is genetically predisposed to perceiving a particular linguistic feature would tend to adopt that feature in their language. Statistical studies that correlated a large number of genetic variants and linguistic features not only generated this hypothesis but also specifically pinpointed a linkage between ASPM and lexical tone. However, there is currently no direct evidence for this association and, therefore, the hypothesis. In an experimental study, we provide evidence to link ASPM with lexical tone perception in a sample of over 400 speakers of a tone language. In addition to providing the first direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis, our results have implications for further studies of linguistic anthropology and language disorders.

Separating the Novel Speech Sound Perception of Lexical Tone Chimeras From Their Auditory Signal Manipulations: Behavioral and Electroencephalographic Evidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 003151252110497
Author(s):  
Fuh-Cherng Jeng ◽  
Breanna N. Hart ◽  
Chia-Der Lin
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Auditory Signal ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Sound Perception ◽  
Processing Strategies

Previous research has shown the novelty of lexical-tone chimeras (artificially constructed speech sounds created by combining normal speech sounds of a given language) to native speakers of the language from which the chimera components were drawn. However, the source of such novelty remains unclear. Our goal in this study was to separate the effects of chimeric tonal novelty in Mandarin speech from the effects of auditory signal manipulations. We recruited 20 native speakers of Mandarin and constructed two sets of lexical-tone chimeras by interchanging the envelopes and fine structures of both a falling/yi4/and a rising/yi2/Mandarin tone through 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32, and 64 auditory filter banks. We conducted pitch-perception ability tasks via a two-alternative, forced-choice paradigm to produce behavioral (versus physiological) pitch perception data. We also obtained electroencephalographic measurements through the scalp-recorded frequency-following response (FFR). Analyses of variances and post hoc Greenhouse-Geisser procedures revealed that the differences observed in the participants’ reaction times and FFR measurements were attributable primarily to chimeric novelty rather than signal manipulation effects. These findings can be useful in assessing neuroplasticity and developing speech-processing strategies.

scholarly journals Congenital amusia in speakers of a tone language: association with lexical tone agnosia

Brain ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (9) ◽  
pp. 2635-2642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Nan ◽  
Yanan Sun ◽  
Isabelle Peretz
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Congenital Amusia

Pitch perception and frequency-following responses elicited by lexical-tone chimeras

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuh-Cherng Jeng ◽  
Chia-Der Lin ◽  
John T. Sabol ◽  
Grant R. Hollister ◽  
Meng-Shih Chou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Lexical Tone

scholarly journals Phonological Identity of the Neutral-tone Syllables in Taiwan Mandarin: An Acoustic Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-50
Author(s):  
Karen HUANG
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Taiwan Mandarin ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Neutral Tone

Taiwan Mandarin, one of the more syllable-timed dialects of Mandarin, has fewer unstressed syllables than Standard Mandarin. Acoustic analyses show that the supposedly unstressed syllables—neutral-tone syllables—in Taiwan Mandarin behave differently from those of Standard Mandarin. Unlike Standard Mandarin, these syllables do not raise their pitch after Tone 3. They have a distinct static mid-low pitch target and the target is implemented with a stronger articulatory strength. Moreover, acoustic analyses demonstrate that not all of these “unstressed syllables” are unstressed. The phonetic evidence suggests that these neutral-tone syllables should be analyzed as unaccented rather than unstressed in Taiwan Mandarin. These unaccented syllables are only lexically marked, and their pitch is neutralized into a mid-low tone. This study sheds light on how rhythm can affect stress and accent in a lexical tone language.

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