AU Educate

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.