Vowel identity conditions the time course of tone recognition

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Conference Contributions - Other
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Date
2013
Authors
Shaw JA
Tyler MD
Kasiopa B
Ma Y
Proctor M
Han C
Derrick, Donald
Burnham D
Abstract

Using eye-tracking in a visual world paradigm, we sought converging evidence for the time course of Mandarin Chinese tone recognition as predicted by the availability of information in f0 and past results from a gating experiment. Our results showed that tones 1 and 2 are recognized earlier than tone 4, followed by tone 3. With the exception of tone 2, which was recognized earlier than expected, our results are consistent with those found in gating. The speed of tone 2 recognition varied significantly across vowels in our study, part of a broader pattern whereby vowels systematically influenced the time course of tone recognition. Rising tones, tone 2 and tone 3, were recognized earliest when co-produced with /a/. The falling tone, tone 4, was recognized earliest when co-produced with /u/. Intrinsic f0 and spectral cues to tone are discussed as possible explanations for the vowel quality effect.

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Citation
Shaw JA, Tyler MD, Kasiopa B, Ma Y, Proctor M, Han C, Derrick D, Burnham D (2013). Vowel identity conditions the time course of tone recognition. Lyon, France: International Speech Communication Association. 25/08/2013-29/08/2013. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the Internation Speech Communication Association (INTERSPEECH). 718-722.
Keywords
speech perception, word recognition, tone, visual world, eye-tracking, Chinese, intrinsic f0
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ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4704 - Linguistics
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