Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:14:23.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EVEN IN THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO L2 LEARNERS HAVE PERSISTENT DIFFICULTY PERCEIVING AND UTILIZING TONES IN MANDARIN

FINDINGS FROM BEHAVIORAL AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS EXPERIMENTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2020

Eric Pelzl Open the ORCID record for Eric Pelzl [Opens in a new window] ,
Ellen F. Lau ,
Taomei Guo  and
Robert DeKeyser
Eric Pelzl*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park and The Pennsylvania State University
Ellen F. Lau*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Taomei Guo*
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
Robert DeKeyser*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eric Pelzl, 111 Moore Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA16802-6203. E-mail: ezp218@psu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lexical tones are widely believed to be a formidable learning challenge for adult speakers of nontonal languages. While difficulties—as well as rapid improvements—are well documented for beginning second language (L2) learners, research with more advanced learners is needed to understand how tone perception difficulties impact word recognition once learners have a substantial vocabulary. The present study narrows in on difficulties suggested in previous work, which found a dissociation in advanced L2 learners between highly accurate tone identification and largely inaccurate lexical decision for tone words. We investigate a “best-case scenario” for advanced L2 tone word processing by testing performance in nearly ideal listening conditions—with words spoken clearly and in isolation. Under such conditions, do learners still have difficulty in lexical decision for tone words? If so, is it driven by the quality of lexical representations or by L2 processing routines? Advanced L2 and native Chinese listeners made lexical decisions while an electroencephalogram was recorded. Nonwords had a first syllable with either a vowel or tone that differed from that of a common disyllabic word. As a group, L2 learners performed less accurately when tones were manipulated than when vowels were manipulated. Subsequent analyses showed that this was the case even in the subset of items for which learners showed correct and confident tone identification in an offline written vocabulary test. Event-related potential results indicated N400 effects for both nonword conditions in L1, but only vowel N400 effects in L2, with tone responses intermediate between those of real words and vowel nonwords. These results are evidence of the persistent difficulty most L2 learners have in using tones for online word recognition, and indicate it is driven by a confluence of factors related to both L2 lexical representations and processing routines. We suggest that this tone nonword difficulty has real-world implications for learners: It may result in many toneless word representations in their mental lexicons, and is likely to affect the efficiency with which they can learn new tone words.

Keywords

ChineseERPstonesL2lexical processing
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 268 - 296
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Thanks to Mo Chen, Shuhua Li, Zhaoqi Zhang, Zhang Liang, Junjie Wu, Yongben Fu, and Chunyan Kang for help running participants, problem shooting MATLAB, and introducing good food in Beijing. Thanks also to Seth Wiener and an anonymous reviewer for their generous and helpful feedback. This research was supported in part by NSF- IGERT grant 0801465 and Ling-DDRI grant 1728851.

References

Alexander, J. A., Wong, P. C., & Bradlow, A. R. (2005). Lexical tone perception in musicians and non-musicians. Interspeech, 397–400. http://groups.linguistics.northwestern.edu/speech_comm_group/publications/2005/Alexander-Wong-Bradlow-2005.pdf.Google Scholar
Antoniou, M., & Wong, P. C. (2016). Varying irrelevant phonetic features hinders learning of the feature being trained. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 139, 271–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68, 255–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.11.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrios, S. L., Namyst, A. M., Lau, E. F., Feldman, N. H., & Idsardi, W. J. (2016). Establishing new mappings between familiar phones: Neural and behavioral evidence for early automatic processing of nonnative contrasts. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00995.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bassetti, B., Escudero, P., & Hayes-Harb, R. (2015). Second language phonology at the interface between acoustic and orthographic input. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716414000393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, D., Kliegl, R., Vasishth, S., & Baayen, H. (2015). Parsimonious mixed models. ArXiv:1506.04967 [Stat]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04967.Google Scholar
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bent, T., Bradlow, A. R., & Wright, B. A. (2006). The influence of linguistic experience on the cognitive processing of pitch in speech and nonspeech sounds. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 97–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.32.1.97.Google ScholarPubMed
Bowles, A. R., Chang, C. B., & Karuzis, V. P. (2016). Pitch ability as an aptitude for tone learning. Language Learning, 66, 774–808. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broersma, M., & Cutler, A. (2011). Competition dynamics of second-language listening. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 74–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broselow, E., Hurtig, R. R., & Ringen, C. (1987). The perception of second language prosody. In Ioup, G. & Weinberger, S. H. (Eds.), Interlanguage phonology: The acquisition of a second language sound system (pp. 350–364). Newbury House Publishers.Google Scholar
Brown, C. A. (1998). The role of the L1 grammar in the L2 acquisition of segmental structure. Second Language Research, 14, 136–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown-Schmidt, S., & Canseco-Gonzalez, E. (2004). Who do you love, your mother or your horse? An event-related brain potential analysis of tone processing in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 33, 103–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cai, Q., & Brysbaert, M. (2010). SUBTLEX-CH: Chinese word and character frequencies based on film subtitles. PLoS One, 5, e10729. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010729.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chan, R. K., & Leung, J. H. (2020). Why are lexical tones difficult to learn? Insights from the incidental learning of tone-segment connections. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42, 33–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263119000482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekaran, B., Sampath, P. D., & Wong, P. C. M. (2010). Individual variability in cue-weighting and lexical tone learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128, 456–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, C. B. (2018). Perceptual attention as the locus of transfer to nonnative speech perception. Journal of Phonetics, 68, 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.03.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, C. B., & Bowles, A. R. (2015). Context effects on second-language learning of tonal contrasts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136, 3703–3716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrabaszcz, A., & Gor, K. (2014). Context effects in the processing of phonolexical ambiguity in L2: Context effects in processing of L2. Language Learning, 64, 415–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, S. V., & Gor, K. (2015). Lexical access in L2: Representational deficit or processing constraint? The Mental Lexicon, 10, 247–270. https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.10.2.04coo.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, S. V., Pandža, N. B., Lancaster, A. K., & Gor, K. (2016). Fuzzy nonnative phonolexical representations lead to fuzzy form-to-meaning mappings. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, A., & Wang, Y. (2013). Effects of tone training on Cantonese tone-word learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134, EL133–EL139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darcy, I., Daidone, D., & Kojima, C. (2013). Asymmetric lexical access and fuzzy lexical representations in second language learners. The Mental Lexicon, 8, 372–420. https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.8.3.06dar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2003). Implicit and explicit learning. In Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. H. (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 313–348). Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2007). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPatten, B. & Williams, J. (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition (pp. 97–113). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Delorme, A., & Makeig, S. (2004). EEGLAB: An open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 134, 9–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2003.10.009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Díaz, B., Mitterer, H., Broersma, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2012). Individual differences in late bilinguals’ L2 phonological processes: From acoustic-phonetic analysis to lexical access. Learning and Individual Differences, 22, 680–689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.05.005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diependaele, K., Lemhöfer, K., & Brysbaert, M. (2013). The word frequency effect in first- and second-language word recognition: A lexical entrenchment account. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 843–863. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.720994.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dong, H., Clayards, M., Brown, H., & Wonnacott, E. (2019). The effects of high versus low talker variability and individual aptitude on phonetic training of Mandarin lexical tones. PeerJ, 7, e7191. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gor, K. (2018). Phonological priming and the role of phonology in nonnative word recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21, 437–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gor, K., & Cook, S. V. (2018). A mare in a pub? Nonnative facilitation in phonological priming. Second Language Research, 36, 123–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658318769962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottfried, T. L. (2007). Music and language learning: Effects of musical training on learning L2 speech contrasts. In Bohn, O.-S. & Munro, M. J. (Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning (pp. 221–237). John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, A. T. (1976). The acoustic variation of Mandarin tones. Phonetica, 33, 353–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howie, J. (1974). On the domain of tone in Mandarin. Phonetica, 30, 129–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idemaru, K., & Holt, L. L. (2011). Word recognition reflects dimension-based statistical learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37, 1939–1956. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025641.Google ScholarPubMed
Idemaru, K., & Holt, L. L. (2014). Specificity of dimension-based statistical learning in word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40, 1009–1021. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035269.Google ScholarPubMed
Ingvalson, E. M., Barr, A. M., & Wong, P. C. M. (2013). Poorer phonetic perceivers show greater benefit in phonetic-phonological speech learning. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 56, 1045. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2012/12-0024).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jurafsky, D., & Martin, J. H. (2009). Speech and language processing: An introduction to natural language processing, computational linguistics, and speech recognition. Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Kutas, M., & Federmeier, K. D. (2000). Electrophysiology reveals semantic memory use in language comprehension. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 463–470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A. (1980). Reading senseless sentences: Brain potential reflect semantic incongruity. Science, 207, 203–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutas, M., & Hillyard, S. A. (1984). Brain potentials during reading reflect word expectancy and semantic association. Nature, 307, 161–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lau, E. F., Phillips, C., & Poeppel, D. (2008). A cortical network for semantics: (De)constructing the N400. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 920–933. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, C.-Y., Tao, L., & Bond, Z. S. (2009). Speaker variability and context in the identification of fragmented Mandarin tones by native and non-native listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 37, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2008.08.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Y.-S., Vakoch, D. A., & Wurm, L. H. (1996). Tone perception in Cantonese and Mandarin: A cross-linguistic comparison. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25, 527–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, M., & DeKeyser, R. (2017). Perception practice, production practice, and musical ability in L2 Mandarin tone-word learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39, 593–620. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263116000358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, X., Yang, Y., & Hagoort, P. (2008). Pitch accent and lexical tone processing in Chinese discourse comprehension: An ERP study. Brain Research, 1222, 192–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, J., & Wiener, S. (2020). Homophones facilitate lexical development in a second language. System, 91, 102249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez-Calderon, J., & Luck, S. J. (2014). ERPLAB: An open-source toolbox for the analysis of event-related potentials. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacWhinney, B., & Bates, E. (Eds.). (1989). The cross-linguistic study of sentence processing. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Malins, J. G., & Joanisse, M. F. (2012). Setting the tone: An ERP investigation of the influences of phonological similarity on spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese. Neuropsychologia, 50, 2032–2043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.05.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathworks, USA (2013). MATLAB and Statistics Release 2013a. The MathWorks, Inc.Google Scholar
Melnik, G. A., & Peperkamp, S. (2019). Perceptual deletion and asymmetric lexical access in second language learners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 145, EL13–EL18. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5085648.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pelzl, E., Carlson, M. T., Guo, T., Jackson, C. N., & van Hell, J. G. (2020). Tuning out tone errors? Native listeners do not down-weight tones when hearing unsystematic tone errors in foreign-accented Mandarin. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000280Google Scholar
Pelzl, E., Lau, E. F., Guo, T., & DeKeyser, R. (2019). Advanced second language learners’ perception of lexical tone contrasts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41, 59–86. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelzl, E., Lau, E. F., Guo, T., Jackson, S. R., & Gor, K. (in press). Behavioral and neural responses ton tone errors in foreign-accented Mandarin. Language Learning.Google Scholar
Perrachione, T. K., Lee, J., Ha, L. Y. Y., & Wong, P. C. M. (2011). Learning a novel phonological contrast depends on interactions between individual differences and training paradigm design. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130, 461–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Sadakata, M., & McQueen, J. M. (2014). Individual aptitude in Mandarin lexical tone perception predicts effectiveness of high-variability training. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schirmer, A., Tang, S.-L., Penney, T. B., Gunter, T. C., & Chen, H.-C. (2005). Brain responses to segmentally and tonally induced semantic violations in Cantonese. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, G., & Froud, K. (2016). Categorical perception of lexical tones by English learners of Mandarin Chinese. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140, 4396–4403. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4971765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, G., & Froud, K. (2019). Electrophysiological correlates of categorical perception of lexical tones by English learners of Mandarin Chinese: An ERP study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22, 253–265. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672891800038X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singmann, H., Bolker, B., Westfall, J., & Aust, F. (2017). Afex: Analysis of factorial experiments (R package version 0.17-8) [Computer software]. http://cran.r-project.org/package=afexGoogle Scholar
So, C. K., & Best, C. T. (2010). Cross-language perception of non-native tonal contrasts: Effects of native phonological and phonetic influences. Language and Speech, 53, 273–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strange, W. (2011). Automatic selective perception (ASP) of first and second language speech: A working model. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 456–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2010.09.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tao, H. (2015). Profiling the Mandarin spoken vocabulary based on corpora. In Wang, W. S.-Y. & Sun, C. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese linguistics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199856336.013.0031.Google Scholar
Veivo, O., & Järvikivi, J. (2013). Proficiency modulates early orthographic and phonological processing in L2 spoken word recognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16, 864–883. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., Spence, M. M., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (1999). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106, 3649.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiener, S. (2020). Second language learners develop non-native lexical processing biases. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23, 119–130. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918001165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiener, S., Ito, K., & Speer, S. R. (2018). Early L2 spoken word recognition combines input-based and knowledge-based processing. Language and Speech, 61, 632–656. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830918761762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiener, S., Lee, C., & Tao, L. (2019). Statistical regularities affect the perception of second language speech: Evidence from adult classroom learners of Mandarin Chinese. Language Learning, 69, 527–558. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiener, S., & Lee, C.-Y. (2020). Multi-talker speech promotes greater knowledge-based spoken Mandarin word recognition in first and second language listeners. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong, P. C. M., & Perrachione, T. K. (2007). Learning pitch patterns in lexical identification by native English-speaking adults. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 565–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, K., Li, L., Chen, Y., Zhou, Y., Wang, R., Zhang, Y., & Li, P. (2019). Effects of native language experience on Mandarin lexical tone processing in proficient second language learners. Psychophysiology, 56. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, L. (2011). Meiguo liuxuesheng Hanyu shengdiaode yinwei he shengxue xinxi jiagong. Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue (Chinese Teaching in the World), 25, 268–275.Google Scholar
Zhao, J., Guo, J., Zhou, F., & Shu, H. (2011). Time course of Chinese monosyllabic spoken word recognition: Evidence from ERP analyses. Neuropsychologia, 49, 1761–1770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.054.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zou, T., Chen, Y., & Caspers, J. (2017). The developmental trajectories of attention distribution and segment-tone integration in Dutch learners of Mandarin tones. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 1017–1029. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916000791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Pelzl et al. supplementary material

Pelzl et al. supplementary material

Download Pelzl et al. supplementary material(File)
File 3.8 MB