The effect of segmental makeup on Mandarin word and tone recognition

Abstract

The present study adopts the gating paradigm to investigate the effect of onset sonorancy, and coda on Mandarin spoken word and tone recognition. Eight tonal quadruplets (all monosyllabic) with different initial segment (obstruent or sonorant), coda composition (no coda, alveolar nasal, or velar nasal) were used as the stimuli. The gates were formed by a 40-ms increment from the beginning of each word. Twenty native listeners from Taiwan were asked to listen to each stimulus, click the corresponding tone number using a mouse, write down the word and then give their confidence rating on the answer. The Isolation point (IP) based on correct word identification (both segment and tone) and the tone isolation point (TIP) were analyzed. The results indicated that tone recognition can be done before the offset of the stimuli. Tone 1 has an earlier IP than Tone 4, followed by Tones 3 and then Tone 2. Sonorant-initial words have a significant earlier IP than obstruent-initial ones. Words without coda have an earlier IP than alveolar nasal, followed by velar nasals. The processing time course for tone and segment and the effect of tonal features on word processing will be discussed.