The perception of tones and phones
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Denis Burnham
Abstract
Tone languages use lexical tone at the syllable level to contrast word meaning. In this chapter we present an overview of the status of tone research to date – what tone is, its unique status as both a segmental and suprasegmental feature of speech, and how it differs from other pitch-related information in speech – pitch-accent, intonation, stress, and emotional tone. The process by which tone perception develops from infancy through childhood to adulthood is reviewed for both tone and non-tone language speakers by drawing on the results of studies that have evaluated the perceptual salience of tones versus phones in speech perception, tonological versus phonological awareness tasks, spelling, and orthography. Issues regarding the status of tone as a linguistic device are considered with due reference to hemispheric (brain) specialisation of tone versus pitch processing, and the influence of linguistic versus non-linguistic context on tone perception. The chapter concludes with a comparison of the similarities and differences between tone and phone perception, and suggestions regarding possible directions for future research on tone perception.
Abstract
Tone languages use lexical tone at the syllable level to contrast word meaning. In this chapter we present an overview of the status of tone research to date – what tone is, its unique status as both a segmental and suprasegmental feature of speech, and how it differs from other pitch-related information in speech – pitch-accent, intonation, stress, and emotional tone. The process by which tone perception develops from infancy through childhood to adulthood is reviewed for both tone and non-tone language speakers by drawing on the results of studies that have evaluated the perceptual salience of tones versus phones in speech perception, tonological versus phonological awareness tasks, spelling, and orthography. Issues regarding the status of tone as a linguistic device are considered with due reference to hemispheric (brain) specialisation of tone versus pitch processing, and the influence of linguistic versus non-linguistic context on tone perception. The chapter concludes with a comparison of the similarities and differences between tone and phone perception, and suggestions regarding possible directions for future research on tone perception.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication ix
- Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
- Acknowledgments xv
- Biographical Note xvii
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PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
- The study of second language speech learning 3
- Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
- Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
- Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
- You are what you eat phonetically 79
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PART II: The concept of foreign accent
- Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
- Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
- Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
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PART III: Consonants and vowels
- Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
- Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
- Cross-language consonant identification 185
- The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
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PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
- Music and language learning 221
- Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
- The perception of tones and phones 259
- Prosody in second language acquisition 281
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PART V: Emerging issues
- Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
- Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
- Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
- The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
- References 367
- Author Index 399
- Subject Index 405
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Dedication ix
- Alphabetical List of Contributors xi
- Acknowledgments xv
- Biographical Note xvii
-
PART I: The nature of L2 speech learning
- The study of second language speech learning 3
- Nonnative and second-language speech perception 13
- Cross-language phonetic similarity of vowels 35
- Investigating the role of attention in phonetic learning 57
- You are what you eat phonetically 79
-
PART II: The concept of foreign accent
- Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language 99
- Second language acquisition of a regional dialect of American English by native Japanese speakers 117
- Acoustic variability and perceptual learning 135
-
PART III: Consonants and vowels
- Strategies for Realization of L2-Categories 153
- Temporal remnants from Mandarin in nonnative English speech 167
- Cross-language consonant identification 185
- The relationship between identification and discrimination in cross-language perception 201
-
PART IV: Beyond consonants and vowels
- Music and language learning 221
- Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language 239
- The perception of tones and phones 259
- Prosody in second language acquisition 281
-
PART V: Emerging issues
- Implications of James E. Flege’s research for the foreign language classroom 301
- Speech learning, lexical reorganization, and the development of word recognition by native and non-native English speakers 315
- Phonemic errors in different word positions and their effects on intelligibility of non-native speech 331
- The graphical basis of phones and phonemes 349
- References 367
- Author Index 399
- Subject Index 405
