Abstract
The accurate perception of lexical tones in tonal languages involves the processing of both acoustic information and phonological information carried by the tonal signal. In this study we evaluated the relative role of the two types of information in native Chinese speaker’s processing of tones at a preattentive stage with event-related potentials (ERPs), particularly the mismatch negativity (MNN). Specifically, we distinguished the acoustic from the phonological information by manipulating phonological category and acoustic interval of the stimulus materials. We found a significant main effect of phonological category for the peak latency of MMN, but a main effect of both phonological category and acoustic interval for the mean amplitude of MMN. The results indicated that the two types of information, acoustic and phonological, play different roles in the processing of Chinese lexical tones: acoustic information only impacts the extent of tonal processing, while phonological information affects both the extent and the time course of tonal processing. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of neurocognitive processes of phonological processing.
Highlights
The use of lexical tones to differentiate lexical semantics is a characteristic of Chinese and other tonal languages
As we reviewed earlier in the Introduction section, previous studies have investigated the differences between the acoustic information and the phonological information from the perspective of brain lateralization (Xi et al, 2010; Zhang et al, 2011, 2012a)
The present study has focused on the different roles of acoustic vs. phonological information in native Chinese listener’s processing through acoustic interval and phonological category
Summary
The use of lexical tones to differentiate lexical semantics is a characteristic of Chinese and other tonal languages. When a native speaker processes lexical tones in Chinese, the speaker deals with at least two types of information: the acoustic information that includes the physical features of auditory input such as the fundamental frequency (F0), and the phonological information that expresses lexical semantics on the basis of which word categories are identified (Luo et al, 2006; Xi et al, 2010). To investigate the difference between the processes of the acoustic vs the phonological information in lexical tones, one line of previous research has been to understand whether lexical tonal processing in Chinese is left or right lateralized in the brain. Chinese lexical tones contain both the acoustic information and the phonological information
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