The Second-Language Productivity of Two Mandarin Tone Sandhi Patterns

Abstract

This study investigates whether the phonetic motivation of two Mandarin tone sandhi patterns influences second-language (L2) learners’ productivity in novel words. Research has suggested that the Mandarin third tone sandhi (T3 sandhi) and Half-T3 sandhi might pose different learning challenges for L2 learners, but there is no evidence that phonetic motivation influences L2 learners’ productive application of the tone sandhi rules. This study re-examines L2 learners’ productive application of the two sandhi patterns and further tests whether their productivity patterns change with increasing Mandarin proficiency. Native Mandarin speakers and Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin with high and low proficiency levels completed a wug production experiment that included both real and novel Mandarin disyllabic words. The results of a comparison of real and novel words showed a low productivity of the T3 sandhi among the L2 learners, but no such pattern was found for the Half-T3 sandhi. The differences in the productivity of the two sandhi patterns for L2 learners did not change with increasing Mandarin proficiency, although there was a difference in the production of novel words involving the T3 sandhi, which may be explained by improved metalinguistic knowledge. These results indicated the relevance of phonetic motivation to L2 productivity of the tone sandhi patterns in Mandarin.