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Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 5:2 (2019) ► pp.195–222

Korean L2 learners’ perception and production of Vietnamese tones

ORCID logo | University of Social Sciences and Humanities | Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This study investigated the production and perception of Vietnamese tones by Korean second language (L2) learners [n = 11], comparing their performance in an Imitation task to that in Identification and Read-Aloud tasks. The results showed that the Imitation task was generally easier for Korean speakers than the Identification and Read-Aloud tasks, suggesting that imitation was performed without some of the skills required by the other two tasks. The result on tonal F0 range and speakers’ tonal range showed that the Korean leaners have significantly narrower tonal F0 range than control Vietnamese speakers [n = 11]. The results of error pattern analysis and tonal transcription in this study also suggested the effects of phonetic realizations of lexical tones in Vietnamese that are in interaction with language transfer from Korean phonology.

Keywords: second language imitation, perception, production, Vietnamese tones, Korean learners
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1L2 production models
    • 1.2L2 perception of tones
    • 1.3L2 imitation
    • 1.4Prosodic aspects in Vietnamese and Korean
    • 1.5Study aims
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Stimuli
    • 2.3Procedures
      • 2.3.1Identification task
      • 2.3.2Imitation
      • 2.3.3Read-Aloud task
    • 2.4Assessing accuracy in the Read-Aloud and Imitation tasks
    • 2.5Analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1L2 learners’ accuracy rates in Identification, Read-Aloud, and Imitation tasks
    • 3.2Tonal error patterns
    • 3.3Transcription of tone contours and voice quality
      • 3.3.1The level tone
      • 3.3.2The rising tone
      • 3.3.3The falling tone
      • 3.3.4The dropping tone
      • 3.3.5The curve tone
      • 3.3.6The broken tone
    • 3.4Tone F0 range
    • 3.5Speakers’ F0 range
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 17 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.17011.dao
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