The perception of Mandarin lexical tones by native Japanese and Thai listeners

Abstract

Mandarin differentiates four tones (T1: high level (ā), T2: high rising (a), T3: dipping (ǎ), T4: high falling (a)). Learning these lexical tones is known to be difficult for those from non-tonal language background (e.g., English). What about listeners with no knowledge of Mandarin but have varying experience with tones or pitch variation? This study examined the discrimination of 6 Mandarin tone contrasts (T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, T2-T3, T2-T4, and T3-T4) by native speakers of Japanese (pitch-accent language) and Thai (tonal language). The listeners’ tone discrimination accuracy was assessed in a categorical discrimination test developed by Jim Flege and colleagues. Both non-native groups were less accurate than the native group, in particular, for the T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, and T2-T3 contrasts. Despite using lexical tones in their first language (L1), Thai listeners did not have a distinct advantage over Japanese listeners and the two groups showed a similar pattern of results. Overall, discrimination accuracy of contrasts involving T1 was lower than other contrasts with the exception of T2-T3. Both Japanese and Thai listeners had greatest difficulty with T2-T3. Since previous knowledge of L1 tones may interfere with the perception of non-native tones, these results will be discussed with reference to a Thai tonal system.