Cover Image
QR Code

The Perception of Cantonese Vowel Length Contrast by Mandarin Speakers.

The study investigates the perception of vowel length contrasts in Cantonese by native Mandarin speakers with varying degrees of experience in Cantonese: naïve listeners (no exposure), inexperienced learners (~1 year), and experienced learners (~5 years). While vowel length contrasts do not exist in...

Full description

Published in:Language & Speech Vol. 63; no. 3; pp. 635 - 660
Main Authors: Jingxin Luo, Vivian Guo Li, Peggy Pik Ki Mok
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Sep2020
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=145969563&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 145969563
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00238309
        3YY
      jtl: Language & Speech
      issn: 00238309
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Sep2020
      vid: 63
      iid: 3
      pid: 344
      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
    artinfo:
      ui:
        145969563
        145969563
        145969563
        10.1177/0023830919879471
        145969563
      ppf: 635
      ppct: 25
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: The Perception of Cantonese Vowel Length Contrast by Mandarin Speakers.
      aug:
        au:
          Jingxin Luo
          Vivian Guo Li
          Peggy Pik Ki Mok
        affil: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
      sug:
        subj:
          Vowels
          Multilingualism
          Speech Perception
          Chinese Persons
          Language Development
          Linguistics
          Phonology
          Language Processing
          Male
          Female
          Descriptive Statistics
          Confidence Intervals
          Data Analysis Software
          Chi Square Test
          Reaction Time
          Post Hoc Analysis
          Linear Regression
          Models, Theoretical
          Funding Source
          Human
          Male
          Female
      ab: The study investigates the perception of vowel length contrasts in Cantonese by native Mandarin speakers with varying degrees of experience in Cantonese: naïve listeners (no exposure), inexperienced learners (~1 year), and experienced learners (~5 years). While vowel length contrasts do not exist in Mandarin, they are, to some extent, exploited in English, the second language (L2) of all the participants. Using an AXB discrimination task, we investigate how native and L2 phonological knowledge affects the acquisition of vowel length contrasts in a third language (L3). The results revealed that all participant groups could discriminate three contrastive vowel pairs (/aː/–/ɐ/,/ɛː/–/e/,/ɔː/–/o/), but their performance was influenced by the degree of Cantonese exposure, particularly for learners in the early stage of acquisition. In addition to vowel quality differences, durational differences were proposed to explain the perceptual patterns. Furthermore, L2 English perception of the participants was found to modulate the perception of L3 Cantonese vowel length contrasts. Our findings demonstrate the bi-directional interaction between languages acquired at different stages, and provide concrete data to evaluate some speech acquisition models.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N