Effect of vowel height and nasal coda on Mandarin tone perception by second language learners

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate whether second language (L2) learners of Mandarin will be affected by vowel height sequences and post-vocalic nasals in perceiving Mandarin tones. A total of 101 stimuli from a female native speaker of Mandarin were recorded for constructing the main experiment. Eight Mandarin L2 learners and two native speakers were recruited. The result indicated that L2 learners had a higher error rate when perceiving H-L-H (high-low-high) and nasal coda. However, perceiving H-L (high-low) or L-H (low-high) in tone 2 and tone 3, L2 learners easily mix up these together.