Many studies have examined novel tone perception, but few have investigated the interaction between novel tone perception ability and phonotactic structure. We examined the discrimination of Thai low and mid tones by native Mandarin and native English participants across four syllable types (CCVV, CVV, VV, hums) to test the interaction between first language suprasegmental experience and phonotactic complexity on novel tone discrimination. We also tested the impact of unfamiliar consonant clusters and unfamiliar segments in the onset. Across syllable types, native Mandarin participants discriminated tones better than native English speakers. Further, discrimination ability was not impacted by phonotactic complexity. However, unfamiliar syllable structure impacted discrimination ability for native Mandarin participants in an unintuitive way. They discriminated tones significantly better in CCVV syllables. Unfamiliar segments in the onset, however, had a negative impact on tone discrimination. The presence of /ŋ/ onsets, which are illegal in English and allophonically permitted in Mandarin, significantly reduced tone discrimination accuracy. For native English participants, /ŋ/ onsets resulted in no discrimination between tones. These results suggest that the phonotactic structure of carrier words for tones interacts with L1 phonotactic experience in modulating novel tone perception ability.

许多研究已经检查了新的音调感知，但很少有研究调查新的音调感知能力和语音结构之间的相互作用。我们检查了以普通话为母语和以英语为母语的参与者对四种音节类型（CCVV、CVV、VV、嗡嗡声）的泰语中低音和中音的辨别，以测试第一语言超音段经验与语音复杂性之间的相互作用对新音辨别的影响。我们还测试了不熟悉的辅音簇和不熟悉的片段在开始时的影响。在音节类型中，以普通话为母语的参与者比以英语为母语的参与者更能区分音调。此外，辨别能力不受语音复杂性的影响。然而，不熟悉的音节结构以不直观的方式影响了母语普通话参与者的辨别能力。他们在 CCVV 音节中明显更好地辨别音调。然而，一开始不熟悉的片段对音调辨别产生了负面影响。/ŋ/ 声母的存在，这在英语中是非法的，而在普通话中是允许的，显着降低了音调辨别的准确性。对于以英语为母语的参与者，/ŋ/ 开始不会导致音调之间的区别。这些结果表明，音调载体词的音位结构与 L1 音位经验在调节新的音调感知能力方面相互作用。对于以英语为母语的参与者，/ŋ/ 开始不会导致音调之间的区别。这些结果表明，音调载体词的音位结构与 L1 音位经验在调节新的音调感知能力方面相互作用。对于以英语为母语的参与者，/ŋ/ 开始不会导致音调之间的区别。这些结果表明，音调载体词的音位结构与 L1 音位经验在调节新的音调感知能力方面相互作用。