Vowel context affects L2 Chinese learners‘ identification of postalveolar sibilants

TY - GEN

T1 - Vowel context affects L2 Chinese learners‘ identification of postalveolar sibilants

AU - Rasmussen, Sidsel

AU - Bohn, Ocke-Schwen

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - This study examines the identification of Standard Chinese initial consonants by native Danish students of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). Segmental perception is known to be affected by neighboring segments, and in the case of Chinese, certain consonantal contrasts may be enhanced by the quality of the following vowel. We examined how well intermediate learners of Chinese could apply (implicit) knowledge of L2 phonology in their identification of Chinese coronal obstruents that are known to pose challenges. This paper focuses on two sets of postalveolar sibilants ([tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ] and [tʂ, tʂʰ, ʂ]) that are often perceived and produced similarly by CFL learners. Results show a hierarchy of correct identification depending on the following vowel: /i/ > /u/ > /a/. We suggest that learners rely on implicit knowledge of phonotactics when perceiving non-native contrasts.

AB - This study examines the identification of Standard Chinese initial consonants by native Danish students of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). Segmental perception is known to be affected by neighboring segments, and in the case of Chinese, certain consonantal contrasts may be enhanced by the quality of the following vowel. We examined how well intermediate learners of Chinese could apply (implicit) knowledge of L2 phonology in their identification of Chinese coronal obstruents that are known to pose challenges. This paper focuses on two sets of postalveolar sibilants ([tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ] and [tʂ, tʂʰ, ʂ]) that are often perceived and produced similarly by CFL learners. Results show a hierarchy of correct identification depending on the following vowel: /i/ > /u/ > /a/. We suggest that learners rely on implicit knowledge of phonotactics when perceiving non-native contrasts.

M3 - Article in proceedings

T3 - Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences

SP - 2576

EP - 2579

BT - Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019

A2 - Calhoun, Sasha

A2 - Escudero, Paola

A2 - Tabain, Marija

A2 - Warren, Paul

PB - Australian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.

CY - Canberra

T2 - 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences

Y2 - 5 August 2019 through 9 August 2019

ER -