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Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 52:1 (2017) ► pp.28–54

The effect of pitch interplay on English-speaking learners of Mandarin

| University of Victoria
This study examines how native English speakers perceive and produce intonation and tone in Mandarin statements and unmarked questions. The results showed, as predicted, that English speakers had less difficulty perceiving intonation and sentence-final tone when the pitch movement of both was in the same direction than when it was not. On the production side, English speakers performed much better at producing tone than intonation. The intelligibility of their question intonation was especially compromised, likely due to their narrow pitch range. The English speakers also consistently produced more final rising pitch in Mandarin unmarked questions, suggesting phonological influence from their native language. Findings highlight the role of language experience in language learning, and the importance of pedagogical awareness.
Keywords: intonation, tone, unmarked questions, Mandarin, pitch interplay
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Background
    • 1.2Mandarin pitch interplay in L1 speech
    • 1.3Mandarin pitch interplay in L2 speech
    • 1.4Research questions and predictions
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Material
    • 2.2Participants
    • 2.3Procedure
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Intonation perception
    • 3.2Tone perception
    • 3.3Intonation production
    • 3.4Tone production
  • 4.Summary and discussion
    • 4.1Perceptual findings
    • 4.2Production findings
      • 4.2.1Intonation production
      • 4.2.2Tone production
    • 4.3Pedagogical implication
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 4 September 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.52.1.02luo
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