This study examines the putative benefits of explicit phonetic instruction, high variability phonetic training, and their effects on adult nonnative speakers? Mandarin tone productions. Monolingual first language (L1) English speakers (n = 80), intermediate second language (L2) Mandarin learners (n = 40), and L1 Mandarin speakers (n = 40) took part in a multiday Mandarin-like artificial language learning task. Participants were asked to repeat a syllable?tone combination immediately after hearing it. Half of all participants were exposed to speech from 1 talker (low variability) while the other half heard speech from 4 talkers (high variability). Half of the L1 English participants were given daily explicit instruction on Mandarin tone contours, while the other half were not. Tone accuracy was measured by L1 Mandarin raters (n = 104) who classified productions according to their perceived tonal category. Explicit instruction of tone contours facilitated L1 English participants? production of rising and falling tone contours. High variability input alone had no main effect on participants? productions but interacted with explicit instruction to improve participants? productions of high-level tone contours. These results motivate an L2 tone production training approach that consists of explicit tone instruction followed by gradual exposure to more variable speech.

中文翻译：

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明确的教学和高可变性语音训练是否会改善非母语人士的普通话音调制作？

本研究考察了明确的语音教学、高可变性语音训练的假定益处，以及它们对非母语成人的影响？普通话音制作。单语第一语言 (L1) 英语 (n = 80)、中级第二语言 (L2) 普通话学习者 (n = 40) 和 L1 普通话 (n = 40) 参加了为期多天的类似普通话的人工语言学习任务。参与者被要求在听到音节后立即重复音节组合。一半的参与者听到了 1 个讲话者的讲话（低可变性），而另一半听到了 4 个讲话者的讲话（高可变性）。一半的 L1 英语参与者每天都接受了关于普通话音调轮廓的明确指导，而另一半则没有。音调准确度由 L1 普通话评分员 (n = 104) 测量，他们根据他们感知的音调类别对作品进行分类。语调轮廓的明确指导有助于 L1 英语参与者？产生上升和下降的音调轮廓。单独的高可变性输入对参与者没有主要影响？制作但与明确的指导互动以改善参与者？制作高级色调轮廓。这些结果激发了 L2 音调产生训练方法，该方法包括明确的语气指导，然后逐渐接触更多可变的语音。单独的高可变性输入对参与者没有主要影响？制作但与明确的指导互动以改善参与者？制作高级色调轮廓。这些结果激发了 L2 音调产生训练方法，该方法包括明确的语气指导，然后逐渐接触更多可变的语音。单独的高可变性输入对参与者没有主要影响？制作但与明确的指导互动以改善参与者？制作高级色调轮廓。这些结果激发了 L2 音调产生训练方法，该方法包括明确的语气指导，然后逐渐接触更多可变的语音。