The present study examined whether second language (L2) learners can lexically encode the tonal contrasts that do not occur in their native language. Advanced Korean learners of Mandarin performed a lexical decision task with medium-term repetition priming. The repeated words were either identical or interchanged with confusable tones. The results showed that advanced L2 learners behaved similarly to the native listeners in processing of L2 tones in favor of the correct lexical items, but still showed differences from native listeners, suggesting that L2 learners may have difficulty in utilizing the L2 sounds for word recognition.

中文翻译：

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非语调第二语言学习者的汉语口语词汇表述。

本研究检查了第二语言（L2）学习者是否可以用词法对在其母语中不会出现的色调对比进行编码。韩国高级汉语普通话学习者通过中期重复练习完成了词汇决策任务。重复的单词要么相同，要么与易混淆的音调互换。结果表明，高级L2学习者在处理L2音调方面表现得与本地听众相似，但支持正确的词汇项，但仍显示出与本地听众的差异，这表明L2学习者可能难以利用L2声音进行单词识别。