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Perception and Production of Cantonese Tones by Speakers with Different Linguistic Experiences Perception and Production of Cantonese Tones by Speakers with Different Linguistic Experiences Mengyue Wu A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Linguistics and Applied Linguistics The University of Melbourne November 2017 Declaration of Originality I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. Signed: ____________________ On: _____/____/_____09 11 201 7 ii Abstract This thesis investigates the perception and production of Cantonese tones by speakers who differ systematically in their native prosodic systems and language learning experiences. These include native tone language speakers of Cantonese and Mandarin, English speakers with no experience of tone languages, and English speakers who have experience with tone languages through learning Mandarin. The core of the thesis consists of two perception studies (tone categorisation, presented in Chapter 5, and discrimination, presented in Chapter 6) as well as a production study (presented in Chapter 7). The categorisation study relies on a novel approach in which English-speaking participants categorise Cantonese tones in terms of their native intonation system, while Mandarin speakers categorise Cantonese tones in terms of their native tone system. The results are interpreted and discussed within the framework of the perceptual assimilation models (PAM, PAM-L2, PAM-S; see Best, 1995; Best & Tyler, 2007; So & Best, 2014). The production study (Chapter 7) includes an imitation task and detailed analyses of F0 onset and offset ellipses plots for each speaker group. I focus on 1) the degree of overlap between the non-native speaker-produced tones and, 2) how much space each tone takes against the whole tonal space. I further analyse tone trajectories at 10% tone intervals, which is crucial to tones in languages like Cantonese, where contour tones take up a large proportion. Additional native perceptual judgement was provided by two native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers who have a linguistics major. The production results for each participant group are further compared to see whether L2 tone learning experience impacts non-native speech perception and production in the same way as the native prosodic system does. The results from the English monolingual participants, as well as the Mandarin speakers indicate that their iii non-native tone ability is influenced by their native systems: English monolinguals pay more attention to pitch height while Mandarin speakers attend more to pitch contour information. The most striking result is the fact that the Mandarin learners outperform both the native Mandarin speakers and the English monolinguals in perceiving and producing the complex Cantonese tones, suggesting that learning Mandarin familiarises English speakers with the use of lexical pitch information and tunes their attention to pitch contour. Finally, the perception and production studies allow a careful discussion of the link between perception and production, as well as differences in individual performance. Non-native perception and production abilities are positively linked for speakers with tone experience in either a first or a second language, while English monolinguals show no correlation between the perception and production of Cantonese tones. iv Acknowledgements This PhD was begun in 2013 and it owes much to my principal supervisor, Dr Brett Baker. Without his unreserved support and enthusiasm in this project, I would never have reached this point. Brett has given me the freedom to explore my own research interests as well as some key suggestions from which I benefitted enormously: I read broadly, obtained statistical training, delivered many public talks, and practiced academic writing in both English and Chinese. The training he provided concerns more than my PhD project—it has urged me to consider what properties make an academic outstanding. I am truly grateful for Professor Janet Fletcher—her lectures in experimental phonetics were the most influential, practical, and challenging ones I took in the last five years. At the moment when I was at last able to work with EMU/R, I started to feel the true glamour of those spectrograms. In the numerous times when I was ashamed of my ignorance and entirely disappointed with myself, Janet told me that knowledge is not built in one day and learning is progressive. Her knowledge and wittiness always made me realise that I have a long way to go. My deepest gratitude also goes to Dr Rikke Bundgaard-Nielsen, who mentored me throughout my candidature, especially at the beginning and towards the end. Her expertise in speech perception directed me through the foundation of the whole study; her confidence in me guided me through the darkest times. After my confirmation in 2013, she suggested that I visit the MARCS Institute for one year. This visit became the most unforgettable experience of my PhD. From a band of researchers who have been working in the same field as me, I learned how to design my experiments with E-Prime, how to perform behavioural experiments, how to juggle between recruiting a large number of participants, conducting experiments, v recording, and analysing data. I also expanded my horizons through the various research groups at MARCS and got to know how an institute functioned differently from departments in universities. Most importantly, I received guidance from Professor Catherine Best during this year, who helped me tremendously in fine- tuning the details of the experimental design and understanding how I could interpret her model, the perceptual assimilation model, and extend it to test prosodic features. Most of all, without Rikke’s suggestion and connections at MARCS, none of these outcomes would have been realised. Thanks to all my friends in the Phonetics Lab: Rosey Billington, Eleanor Lewis, Katie Jepson and Josh Clothier for the ongoing support when I had ‘culture shock’, when I had questions with R, when I had trouble sleeping at night in the latter half of my candidature. We shared the stress of this journey and the joy of having exciting findings. Our cosy lab during those windy and freezing winter afternoons will be among my most cherished memories. I also would like to thank all the friends I made outside linguistics in Melbourne—they gave me the release of being able to talk about everything other than research over those guilty brunch dates and late dinners. My final thanks should go to my mother and my partner, who understand and support me unconditionally. vi Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... v Contents .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................. x List of Tables ............................................................................................................ xii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................. xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Motivation and Aims .......................................................................................... 3 1.3 Thesis Structure .................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2: Tone and Intonation ............................................................................... 8 2.1 Prosody ............................................................................................................... 8 Prosodic typology ........................................................................................ 8 Autosegmental Metrical and Tones and Break Indices transcriptions ...... 11 Transfer of native prosodic systems .......................................................... 12 2.2 Tone Languages ............................................................................................... 13 Cantonese tone system ............................................................................... 16 Mandarin tone system ................................................................................ 21 2.3 Intonation Languages ....................................................................................... 25 English intonation ...................................................................................... 25 Australian English ..................................................................................... 27 2.4 Comparison between Lexical Tones and Intonation ........................................ 31 2.5 Summary .......................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 3: Tone Perception and Production......................................................... 36 3.1 Tone Perception ...............................................................................................
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