Pronunciation Of Chinese Characters Research Articles

Translating Braille into Chinese based on improved CBHG model

Transforming Mandarin Braille to Chinese text is a significant but less focused machine translation task. CBHG is a building block used in the Tacotron text-to-speech model. Since Mandarin Braille is constructed from the pronunciation of Chinese characters, CBHG can be used to perform Braille–Chinese translation. Unfortunately, only relying on the convolution blocks in CBHG cannot effectively extract the features of Braille sequences. Two ways are proposed to improve the CBHG model: CBHG-SE and CBHG-ECA. The two modules adaptively recalibrate channel-wise feature responses by explicitly modeling interdependencies between channels in CBHG. The quality of representations produced by the network can also be improved. Meanwhile, the network can learn to use global information to emphasize informative features and suppress less useful ones selectively. CBHG-ECA has stronger feature recalibration capabilities than CBHG-SE due to its more direct correspondence between channels and their weights. These two models can achieve 92.23 BLEU and 91.48 BLEU on the Braille–Chinese dataset, outperforming CBHG and other neural machine translation models.

Effects of the Instruction With Liushu on Mandarin Learners’ Chinese Character Achievement and Motivation

This study examines the effects of instruction with Liushu on Chinese character achievement and motivation of Mandarin learners through an experiment. A total of 133 Mandarin beginner learners from Laos were assigned to the experimental group (37 male students, 31 female students) and the control group (42 male students, 23 female students). Liushu was used to conduct Chinese character teaching for ten weeks in the experimental group. It was found that instruction with Liushu has a positive effect on learners’ Chinese character achievement, especially the ability to infer the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese characters. Also, it motivates Mandarin learners’ Ideal L2 Self and L2 Learning Experience more than conventional instruction. As a final contribution to this study, we presented a correlation analysis between Chinese character achievement and motivation as well as some insights.

Phonological Training and Word Learning in a Novel Language

In reading Chinese words, learners may process segment and tone either separately or as an integral unit, as evidenced in previous research. The present study compared two ways—Segmental versus Whole-Syllable-Based Training—for improving learners’ phonological and word learning in Chinese as a novel language, while controlling for learners’ musical ability, an important factor that may contribute to phonological learning. Forty-two American college students learned Chinese words represented by Pinyin, a Romanized script which denotes the pronunciation of Chinese characters. Before the training, all participants were introduced to the phonology and Pinyin system. Then, they were trained on the pronunciation and meaning of the Pinyin words with or without an emphasis on separating the tonal from segmental information. All participants’ musical ability was assessed using a musical ability test. Learning outcomes were measured through tasks of same-different phonological judgment, tone identification, and word comprehension. Results showed the equal success of the two training methods, probably due to the consistent involvement of Pinyin and learner’s reliance on segment and tone as an integral unit rather than separate cues in phonological and word learning. Furthermore, musical ability seems to play a role in phonological and word learning among novel learners of Chinese.

Postposition of「Ritual Prayer(のりと)․Order of the King(せんみょう)」

「The Book of Order of the King(せんみょうがき)」including「ritual prayer(のりと)」and「order of the king(せんみょう)」is one of the most common forms of a sentence that is Japanized among Chinese-borrowing transcriptions. The book refers to transcriptions of verb endings, postpositions and an auxiliary verbs. The sentence structure of ritual prayers can be classified into type A, B and C. The order of the king is very similar to typeC which is the most developed type among ritual prayers. In terms of Chinese-borrowing transcriptionss, types A, B and C in ritual prayers contain the following transitional transcriptions for the Book of Order of the king: a turning point, the usage of Chinese characters, verb endings, postpositions, the joint-use of pseudonyms, the pronunciation of Chinese characters in compound verbs and even non-transcription of postpositions and an auxiliary verbs. Types A, B and C have gradually embraced and arranged the transitional transcriptions, and have settled in a regular pseudonym transcription for verb endings, postpositions and an auxiliary verbs. In the same age「Idu」, a Chinese-borrowing transcription, which was similar to the order of the king transcription, existed in Korea. Kono Rokuno(こうのろくろう) described the difference between the two forms as「the difference in the degree of the suitability for Chinese characters」. Through an analysis of the Chinese-borrowing transcription, pseudonyms of postpositions observed in the ritual prayer and the order of the king are unveiled as follows. The ritual prayer covers [ニ(爾/仁)], [ノ(乃/能)], [テ(氐/天/弓)], [ト(止/登)], [ヲ(乎/遠)], [ハ(波)] [ガ(我/可)], [モ(毛/母)] and [ソ曾(1)], while the order of the king contains [ニ(爾/仁)], [ノ(乃/能)], [テ(天/弓/氐)], [ト(止/等/登)], [ヲ(乎/遠)], [ハ(波/方)], [ガ(我/賀)], [モ(毛/母)], [イ(伊)], [ソ曾(11)], [ツ(豆/都/川)], [カ(可/加)], [シ(志/之/自)], [ヤ(夜/耶)], [ユ(由)] and [ヨ(與)].

A Minor Survey on the History of Researches on Phonetic Aspects of Foreign Dialects : Focusing on the Pronunciation of Chinese Characters in Korean

A Minor Survey on the History of Researches on Phonetic Aspects of Foreign Dialects : Focusing on the Pronunciation of Chinese Characters in Korean

Pinyin and English Invented Spelling in Chinese-Speaking Students Who Speak English as a Second Language.

This study examined pinyin (the official phonetic system that transcribes the lexical tones and pronunciation of Chinese characters) invented spelling and English invented spelling in 72 Mandarin-speaking 6th graders who learned English as their second language. The pinyin invented spelling task measured segmental-level awareness including syllable and phoneme awareness, and suprasegmental-level awareness including lexical tones and tone sandhi in Chinese Mandarin. The English invented spelling task manipulated segmental-level awareness including syllable awareness and phoneme awareness, and suprasegmental-level awareness including word stress. This pinyin task outperformed a traditional phonological awareness task that only measured segmental-level awareness and may have optimal utility to measure unique phonological and linguistic features in Chinese reading. The pinyin invented spelling uniquely explained variance in Chinese conventional spelling and word reading in both languages. The English invented spelling uniquely explained variance in conventional spelling and word reading in both languages. Our findings appear to support the role of phonological activation in Chinese reading. Our experimental linguistic manipulations altered the phonological awareness item difficulties.

俗音의 형성 원인에 대한 初探

俗音의 형성 원인에 대한 初探

English

The researchers found that the Tcheonzamun (The Thousand Character Essay) consists of 63 poems of 16 letters, while the last 63rd poem consists of 8 letters. The researchers looked at the history of ancient Korea through Tcheonzamun poem. This is because the history of Korea before the 1st century has not been known until now. Through the first translation using the Chinese character, the researchers found that the author of Tcheonzamun poems tried to encourage the Maeg people, the ancestor of Koreans, because they were defeated in a combat with another country at that time. The researchers found that there is another method for the translation of Tcheonzamun poem. The researchers used their Korean pronunciations of the 16 letters for the second translation. The meaning of the translations under the two methods was similar, while the second translation through Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters had a tinge of sadness. From the aforementioned three key points, the researchers assumed two things: the people of Maeg country wrote the Tcheonzamun, and that the Tcheonzamun was spread from Maeg country into China before 500 B.C. Another two things the researchers found further are: the Tcheonzamun poem is a splendid writing because it expresses similar meaning both in interpretation of Chinese characters and Korean pronunciations using Chinese characters. There is a little difference between the modern Korean language and the Korean language of more than 2500 years old. The researchers wanted to know if Maeg people were religious people or not. Through this research, the researchers concluded that Maeg people were very religious people. And finally it is considered that the object for Maeg people of this Tcheonzamun poem is their petition to God for protection. Key words: Maeg, Korean pronunciations, the sorrowful voices of Tcheonzamun (The Thousand Character Essay) author.

EWOLUCJA JĘZYKA URZĘDOWEGO W KOREI

Chinese characters and Buddhist books reached Korea about third century of the Common Era. From that moment Korea became the official part of the Chinese culture and civilization (Cheon So-yeong 2007, 362). Despite the fact that ideographic Chinese characters were not fit for the Korean language, Koreans, having no writing system of their own, adopted the script. Chinese characters became the basis for the Korean writings and official documents till mid-19 th century. Initially, texts were formulated in Chinese. The sentence order typical of the Chinese language was used in them too. At the same time Koreans read out such texts adapting the pronunciation of Chinese characters to the rules of Korean phonetics. With the flow of time, new styles of writing started emerging including gugyeol and idu. Gugyeol was a style in which the sentence word order was still typical of the Chinese language. It was, however, enriched with Korean grammatical morphemes which were absent in Chinese but were vital for Korean. The next stage in the development of Korean writings is called idu. What is typical of idu is the fact that the sentence word order changed into typical of Korean spoken language (e.g. the verb was transferred at the end of the sentence). None of the methods was fully efficient. Therefore, the most significant breakthrough was the invention of the Korean alphabet called hangeul by the king Sejong.

马来学生对汉字的认知方式和认字教学的实践方法

AbstractThis study mainly investigated cognitive methods adopted by Malay learners who were taking Chinese proficiency courses at the University of Putra Malaysia. The respondents were learners who came from an alphabetic writing background. The findings of this study revealed that three cognitive methods were adopted by these respondents to recognize and retrieve the meanings of Chinese characters. The first method was to use phonetic symbols to write down the pronunciations of Chinese characters in order to comprehend the meanings of the characters. The respondents needed to pass through the intermediary stage of the inner language to activate the meanings of the characters. This response is a normal psychological reaction from the Chinese language learners who come from an alphabetic writing background.For the second method, the respondents used the vocabulary of their mother tongue to translate the meanings of Chinese characters. The findings showed that they depended on their mother tongue when comprehending the meanings of Chinese characters. Some respondents needed to search for the equivalent vocabulary in their mother tongue to translate the meanings of Chinese characters before they could retrieve the accurate meanings of the characters. This reaction shows that the method of acquisition of the mother tongue can affect the cognition ability of learners when comprehending the meanings of Chinese characters and during the reading process of Chinese texts.The third method concerned some respondents who could master Chinese characters and obtain a high level of Chinese proficiency. They were able to retrieve the meanings of Chinese characters directly from Chinese orthography without depending on the stimulus of the inner language or translation of the mother tongue to decode the meanings of the characters. The results of the Chinese comprehension test revealed that the respondents who obtained a high level of Chinese proficiency were not hindered by the difficulties in recognizing and comprehending the meanings of the Chinese characters. Their scores in the comprehension test were the highest.The feedback from the questionnaire used showed that some respondents did not necessarily have to rely on the stimulus of the inner language as the intermediary stage to activate the meanings of Chinese characters. Most of the respondents preferred to use the vocabulary of their mother tongue to help them to retrieve the meanings of the characters. Regarding the stimulus of the inner language or the translation of the mother tongue for decoding, both these methods showed that there was interference from the mother tongue’s orthography of the respondents. However, the results of the comprehension test revealed that when the respondents were familiar with Chinese characters, they could abandon both the methods mentioned when retrieving the meanings of the characters.Finally, this study suggests some instructional practices for recognizing Chinese characters to assist Chinese language learners from the alphabetic writing background to better recognize the characteristics of Chinese orthography. These practices emphasize learning activities for standard Chinese language orthography. Emphasis also is given to the knowledge relating to the features and characteristics of Chinese characters from an ideogram language. Further stress is on the effective methods to retrieve the meanings directly from Chinese characters.

A Comparative Study on the Korean Translation and Pronunciation of Chinese Characters in Two Editions of The Thousand Character Classic in Four Types of Calligraphy by Kim Song-Kyu

A Comparative Study on the Korean Translation and Pronunciation of Chinese Characters in Two Editions of The Thousand Character Classic in Four Types of Calligraphy by Kim Song-Kyu

A Generative Data Augmentation Model for Enhancing Chinese Dialect Pronunciation Prediction

Most spoken Chinese dialects lack comprehensive digital pronunciation databases, which are crucial for speech processing tasks. Given complete pronunciation databases for related dialects, one can use supervised learning techniques to predict a Chinese character's pronunciation in a target dialect based on the character's features and its pronunciation in other related dialects. Unfortunately, Chinese dialect pronunciation databases are far from complete. We propose a novel generative model that makes use of both existing dialect pronunciation data plus medieval rime books to discover patterns that exist in multiple dialects. The proposed model can augment missing dialectal pronunciations based on existing dialect pronunciation tables (even if incomplete) and the pronunciation data in rime books. The augmented pronunciation database can then be used in supervised learning settings. We evaluate the prediction accuracy in terms of phonological features, such as tone, initial phoneme, final phoneme, etc. For each character, features are evaluated on the whole, overall pronunciation feature accuracy (OPFA). Our first experimental results show that adding features from dialectal pronunciation data to our baseline rime-book model dramatically improves OPFA using the support vector machine (SVM) model. In the second experiment, we compare the performance of the SVM model using phonological features from closely related dialects with that of the model using phonological features from non-closely related dialects. The experimental results show that using features from closely related dialects results in higher accuracy. In the third experiment, we show that using our proposed data augmentation model to fill in missing data can increase the SVM model's OPFA by up to 7.6%.

The Pedagogical Model of Chinese Character Pronunciation Instruction for Chinese Learners

The Pedagogical Model of Chinese Character Pronunciation Instruction for Chinese Learners

Discrepancies between sounds and graphs

This article attempts to analyze the causes of the irregular readings of Chinese characters both in Mandarin and in Sino-Korean (i.e. Korean pronunciations of Chinese characters). Cultural taboo, avoidance of confusion and residues of historical and/ or regional sound changes are the main causes for irregular readings in Mandarin. Semantic readings, euphony, mismatched palatalization, confusion and erroneous readings are the main reasons in Sino-Korean, among many others. This article also examines how well the graph of a Chinese character conveys the sound if it is a phonetic compound, which consists of a phonetic element and a semantic element. The discussion highlights that the function of conveying the exact pronunciation of a Chinese character is not straightforward although DeFrancis (1984b: 19) suggests that “Chinese is basically a phonetic system of writing of the syllabic type.”

The Study on the Correspondent Relation between the Korean Pronunciation of Chinese Characters and the Chinese Pronunciation of Chinese Characters

The Study on the Correspondent Relation between the Korean Pronunciation of Chinese Characters and the Chinese Pronunciation of Chinese Characters

Medical education for students in compulsory education: the conception of the preparation of three graded textbooks and preliminary evaluation of lectures using these textbooks

The school pharmacist in our hospital pharmacy used three graded textbooks about medicine for students at the Sukagawa School for the Health-Impaired (Fukushima Medical University Hospital Branch (H. I. school)). A revised textbook for 4th-6th grade elementary school students containing 12 important items of information about medicine, a new picture textbook for 1st-3rd grade elementary school students, and a new textbook containing practical data for junior high school students were prepared by supplementing original information with illustrations, simplified expression and large type face. Additionally, the pronunciation of Chinese characters was included in the textbook for the 1st-3rd grade elementary school students. In this study, 9 students from H. I. school and 37 students from Koyase junior high school took part in a questionnaire and an examination evaluating the usefulness of the lectures, and these textbooks, in regard to the student's recognition and understanding of medicine. Most students answered that the lectures and textbooks helped them to understand medicine. Furthermore, the results of the examination indicated that the students had a general understanding of medicine. In conclusion, we suggest that it is important for students in compulsory education to learn about medicine, and that according to the preliminary result of questionnaires and examinations, both the lectures and textbooks were useful to help the students to understand more about medicine.