The discrimination of tonal contrasts by monolingual and bilingual adults

Liquan Liu, René Kager

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paperpeer-review

Abstract

![CDATA[In previous TAL, we have demonstrated non-tone-learning monolingual and bilingual infants' tone perception in the first year of life. This talk presents a follow-up study on the tone discrimination patterns in the adulthood, specifically in Chinese (tone-language), Dutch (non-tone-language), and Dutch simultaneous bilingual adults (non-tone-languages). Interestingly, adults from all language conditions perform similarly in AX and AXB discrimination tasks for two tonal contrasts. A slight advantage can be observed in the sequence of Chinese adults > Dutch simultaneous bilingual adults > Dutch adults when perceiving a contracted (more difficult) tonal contrast in an upward order. The influence of bilingualism on tone perception as well as acoustic salience is discussed linking our previous finding that bilingual infants present earlier sensitivity rebound in discriminating tonal contrast.]]
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014): Nijmegen, The Netherlands, May 13-16, 2014
PublisherInternational Speech Communication Association
Pages87-90
Number of pages4
Publication statusPublished - 2014
EventInternational Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages -
Duration: 13 May 2015 → …

Conference

ConferenceInternational Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages
Period13/05/15 → …

Keywords

  • tone (phonetics)
  • speech perception
  • bilingualism
  • Chinese language
  • Dutch language

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