ABSTRACT

Adults typically struggle to perceive non-native sound contrasts, especially those that conflict with their first language. Do the same challenges persist when the sound contrasts overlap but do not conflict? To address this question, we explored the acquisition of lexical tones. While tonal variations are present in many languages, they are only used contrastively in tonal languages. We investigated the perception of Mandarin tones by adults with differing experience with Mandarin, including naïve listeners, classroom learners, and native speakers. Naïve listeners discriminated Mandarin tones at above-chance levels, and performance significantly improved after just one month of classroom exposure. Additional evidence for plasticity came from advanced classroom learners, whose tonemic perception was indistinguishable from that of native speakers. The results suggest that unlike many other non-native contrasts, adults studying a language in the classroom can readily acquire the perceptual skills needed to discriminate Mandarin tones.

摘要

成人通常难以感知非本地声音对比，尤其是与母语冲突的对比。当声音的对比度重叠但不冲突时，是否还会遇到同样的挑战？为了解决这个问题，我们探索了词汇声调的获取。尽管许多语言都存在音调变化，但它们仅在音调语言中用作对比。我们调查了具有不同普通话经验的成年人（包括纯朴的听众，课堂学习者和母语人士）对普通话音调的感知。幼稚的听众以较高的机会辨别普通话音调，仅在课堂上暴露一个月后，演奏水平就显着提高。可塑性的其他证据来自高级课堂学习者，他们的语调感知能力与母语使用者的分辨能力没有区别。