The perception of Norwegian word tones by second language speakers.

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the perception of Norwegian word tones by second language speakers. The phonological system of Norwegian involves two different tones that are used to distinguish a relatively large number of word pairs. Earlier studies have shown that native speakers of Norwegian are able to identify the word tones almost error‐free. The aim of the present study was to investigate word tone perception by speakers of a tonal language (Mandarin Chinese) and a non‐tonal language (German). These two groups as well as a control group of native listeners identified manipulated stimuli with tonal contours varying between tone 1 and tone 2. It appeared that the L2 users had less sharp transitions than the natives, the Chinese subjects performing somewhat better than the Germans. In addition, native speakers categorized tokens of tone 1 and tone 2 words produced by the L2 speakers and indicated on a five‐point scale how sure they were in their judgment. In an acoustical analysis the fundamental frequency contours of the L2 test words were analyzed and subsequently used for comparison with native categorization results. The implications of the found correlations between production and perception are discussed.