Cover not available
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
References (56)
References
Asher, J. J., & García, R. (1969). The optimal age to learn a foreign language. Modern Language Journal, 531, 334–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, W., & Trofimovich, P. (2006). Perceptual paths to accurate production of L2 vowels: The role of individual differences. IRAL – International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 441, 231–250.Google Scholar
Beckman, M. E., & Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1986). Intonational structure in Japanese and English. Phonology Yearbook, 31, 255–310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2009). Praat: doing phonetics by computer (Version 4.6.09). Computer program, retrieved on 24 June 2007, from [URL]
Bohn, O. S., & Flege, J. E. (1997). Perception and production of a new vowel category by adult second language learners. In J. Leather & A. James (Eds.), Second language speech: Structure and process (pp. 53–73). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bradlow, A. R., Pisoni, D. B., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Tohkura, Y. I. (1997). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/ :IV. Some effects of perceptual learning on speech production. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1011, 2299–2310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brunelle, M., & Jannedy, S. (2013). The Cross-dialectal Perception of Vietnamese Tones: Indexicality and Convergence. In D. Hole & E. Löbel (Eds.), Linguistics of Vietnamese, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brunelle, M. (2009a). Tone perception in Northern and Southern Vietnamese. Journal of Phonetics, 27(1), 79–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009b). Northern and Southern Vietnamese tone coarticulation: A comparative case study. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 11, 49–62.Google Scholar
Carcagno, S., & Plack, C. J. (2011). Subcortical plasticity following perceptual learning in a pitch discrimination task. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 121, 89–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekaran, B., Kraus, N., & Wong, P. C. (2012). Human inferior colliculus activity relates to individual differences in spoken language learning. Journal of Neurophysiology, 1071, 1325–1336. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Đào, M.Đ., & Nguyễn, T. A. T. (2017). Vietnamese tones produced by Australian Vietnamese speakers. Heritage Language Journal, 14(3), 224–247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Đoàn, T. T. (1999). Ngữ âm tiếng Việt [Vietnamese phonetics]. Hà Nội: Đại học & Trung học chuyên nghiệp Press.Google Scholar
Eckman, F. R. (1977). Markedness and the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis. Language Learning, 27(2), 315–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Emeneau, M. B. (1951). Studies in Vietnamese (Annamese) grammar. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Eefting, W. (1988). Imitation of a VOT continuum by native speakers of English and Spanish: Evidence for phonetic category formation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 831, 729–740. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fowler, C. A., Brown, J. M., Sabadini, L., & Weihing, J. (2003). Rapid access to speech gestures in perception: Evidence from choice and simple response time tasks. Journal of Memory and Language, 491, 396–413. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gandour, J. (1983). Tone perception in far eastern languages. Journal of Phonetics, 111, 149–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: a test of the critical period hypothesis for second-language acquisition. Psychological Science, 141, 31–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halle, P. A., Chang, Y. C., & Best, C. T. (2004). Identification and discrimination of Mandarin Chinese tones by Mandarin Chinese vs. French listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 32(3), 395–421. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hao, Y. C., & de Jong, K. (2016). Imitation of second language sounds in relation to L2 perception and production. Journal of Phonetics, 541, 151–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hyman, L. M., & VanBik, K. (2004). Directional rule application and output problems in Hakha Lai tone. Phonetics and Phonology, Special Issue, Language and Linguistics, 51, 821–861.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 211, 60–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M. H., & De Haan, M. (2015). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jun, S. A. (1993). The Phonetics and Phonology of Korean Prosody. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University.Google Scholar
(1998). The accentual phrase in the Korean prosodic hierarchy. Phonology, 15(2), 189–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005). Prosody in sentence processing: Korean vs. English. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 1041, 26–45.Google Scholar
Kirby, J. (2010). Dialect experience in Vietnamese tone perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 127(6), 3749–3757. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiriloff, C. (1969). On the auditory discrimination of tones in Mandarin. Phonetica, 201, 63–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Y., Vakoch, D., & Wurm, L. (1996). Tone perception in Cantonese and Mandarin: A cross-linguistic comparison. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25(5), 527–544. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lenneberg, E. H., Chomsky, N., & Marx, O. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. New York: Wiley. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 221, 1–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michaud, A. (2004). Final Consonants and Glottalization: New Perspectives from Hanoi Vietnamese. Phonetica, 611,119–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michaud, A., Vũ, N. T., Amelot, A., & Roubleau, B. (2006). Nasal realease, nasal finals and tonal contrasts in Hanoi Vietnamese: an aerodynamic experiment. Mon-Khmer Studies, 361, 121–137.Google Scholar
Mitterer, H., & Ernestus, M. (2008). The link between speech perception and production is phonological and abstract: Evidence from the shadowing task. Cognition, 1091, 168–173. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitterer, H., & Müsseler, J. (2013). Regional accent variation in the shadowing task: Evidence for a loose perception – action coupling in speech. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 751, 557–575. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nguyễn, V. L., & Edmondson, J. A. (1997). Tones and voice quality in modern northern Vietnamese: Instrumental case studies. Mon-Khmer Studies, 281, 1–18.Google Scholar
Pham, H. A. (2003). Vietnamese tone: A new analysis. Routledge.Google Scholar
Pierrehumbert, J. B., & Beckman, M. E. (1988). Japanese Tone Structure. Linguistic Inquiry, Monograph 15. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Polka, L. (1991). Cross-language speech perception in adults: Phonemic, phonetic, and acoustic contributions. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89(6), 2961–2977. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1992). Characterizing the influence of native language experience on adult speech perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 52(1), 37–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pujol, J., Deus, J., Losilla, J. M., & Capdevila, A. (1999). Cerebral lateralization of language in normal left-handed people studied by functional MRI. Neurology, 521, 1038–1043. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shen, X. S. (1989). Toward a register approach in teaching Mandarin tones. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 24(3), 27–47.Google Scholar
Shockley, K., Sabadini, L., & Fowler, C. A. (2004). Imitation in shadowing words. Perception & Psychophysics, 661, 422–429. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Skoe, E., Chandrasekaran, B., Spitzer, E. R., Wong, P. C., & Kraus, N. (2013). Human brainstem plasticity: the interaction of stimulus probability and auditory learning. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 1091, 82–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
So, C. K. (2005). The effect of L1 prosodic backgrounds of Cantonese and Japanese speakers on the perception of Mandarin tones after training. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 117(4), 2427. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Song, J. H., Skoe, E., Wong, P. C., & Kraus, N. (2008). Plasticity in the adult human auditory brainstem following short-term linguistic training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 201, 1892–1902. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Studebaker, G. A. (1985). A rationalized arcsine transform. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 281, 455–462. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tierney, A. T., Krizman, J., & Kraus, N. (2015). Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1121, 1006–10067. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tu, J., Hsiung, Y., Cha, J., Wu, M., & Sung, Y. (2016). Tone production of Mandarin disyllabic words by Korean learners. Proc. Speech Prosody, 375–379. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tu, J., Hsiung, Y., Wu, M., & Sung, Y. (2014). Error patterns of Mandarin disyllabic tones by Japanese learners. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association (Interspeech-2014), Singapore, 2014.Google Scholar
Vũ, T. P. (1981). The acoustic and perceptual nature of tone in Vietnamese. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Spence, M. M., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (1999). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1061, 3649–3658. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wayland, R. P., & Guion, S. G. (2004). Training English and Chinese listeners to perceive Thai Tones: A preliminary Report. Language Learning, 54(4), 681–712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xie, Z., Reetzke, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2017). Stability and plasticity in neural encoding of linguistically relevant pitch patterns. Journal of Neurophysiology, 117(3), 1407–1422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young-Scholten, M. (1994). On positive evidence and ultimate attainment in L2 phonology. Second language research, 101, 193–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Ko, Sungsil & Jiyoun Choi
2020. Perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones in Korean learners of Mandarin Chinese. Phonetics and Speech Sciences 12:1 ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.