Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-11-28
Abstract： Music and speech share many acoustic commonalities and cognitive mechanisms. Previous studies have found that music training can improve categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin tones in adult musicians. However, it remains to be established whether music training can enhance the categorical perception of Mandarin tones in young children and whether the training effects can be influenced by the training duration. The present study used a 2 (group: music training vs no-training) × 3 (test time: pre vs 6-month post vs 12-month post) between-and-within-subjects design to investigate the effects of music training on 4- to 5-year-old children’s CP of a Mandarin lexical tone continuum (from Tone 1 to Tone 2). The music training consisted of 110 sessions, 30 minutes per session, and three sessions per week for 12 months involving 20 preschoolers. The children were assigned to two groups, music training group (N=20, age range from 49.69 months to 51.42 months, SD=2.91 months) and control group (N=20, age range from 51.69 to 52.56 months, SD=3.0 months). In the music training group, the instructor guided children in activities leading to playing the small carillon, while children in the no-training group were given routine class activities. Each session of music training consisted four parts: Part 1 was “listen and sing songs” in which children learned to master notes and focus attention on subtle pitch changes; Part 2 was “listen and discriminate musical notes”, children learned to play a single note accurately according to the background music; Part 3 was “listen and play the carillon”, children listened to pitch changes in the background music, sang the notes and played the whole song melody; Part 4 was “play the carillon along with actions”, children listened to the background music and learned to play the carillon along with simple dancing actions. Children’s CP of tone continuum was measured before the learning began, after 6- month and after 12- month training using two tasks (identification test and discrimination test). This study investigated if music training can enhance children’s boundary position, boundary width, within-category and between-category discrimination accuracy in CP of Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 2 through 2 (group: music training vs no-training) ×3 (test time: pre vs 6-month post vs 12-month post) repeated measures ANOVA. The results revealed that although the perceptual boundary positions and ability to discriminate between-category tone pairs were unaffected by training, the boundary width values and within-category discrimination accuracies differed significantly between the experimental and control groups. The analysis of boundary width values and within-category discrimination accuracy revealed a significant interaction between group and test time. An analysis of simple effects further indicated that in the pretest and 6-month posttest, there was no significant effect between music training group and no-training group. In the 12-month posttest, the boundary width decreased significantly and the within-category discrimination accuracies increased significantly in the music training group, while no significant differences were found on boundary width and within-category discrimination accuracy in the control group. These results suggest that long-term music training can enhance children’s CP of Mandarin tonal contrasts. In conclusion, our results supported the OPERA theory that music training can raise the steepness of boundary widths and enhance children’s sensitivity to subtle pitch differences between within-category sounds in the presence of robust mental representation in the service of CP of lexical tonal contrasts.
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： " The purpose of this study was to investigate how vocal attack time (VAT) varies when young adults articulate the three vertex vowels in Mandarin Chinese at five linguistically unconstrained pitch levels. Sound pressure (SP) and electroglottographic (EGG) signals were recorded simultaneously from fifty-three male and fifty-three female subjects saying sustained /A/, /i/ and /u/ at five equally spaced pitch heights, each being higher than the preceding one. Then analyses of means, variance and correlation were performed to explore the relationships of VAT/pitch levels and VAT/vowels. Findings were: As mean STs (semitone) increase linearly from levels one to five, mean VATs decrease nonlinearly in a big group of subjects but increase nonlinearly in a small group of them. Based on the body-cover model of F0 control, data here lead to the guess that different people incline to use different strategies in increasing pitch height. When males, females and males plus females are considered as a whole, average STs and VATs tend to be positively correlated among the three vertex vowels.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： " This paper presents the data on the anticipatory coarticulation of C2 and V2 on V1 in V1#C2V2 sequences in Standard Chinese. Electropalatographic measures and F2 trajectory were obtained to define the articulatory and F2 targets for V1 as well as the displacement for articulatory and F2 transition of V1. Results show that the articulatory target is affected only by C2 place, while C2 place, C2 manner, and V2 show combined effect on the articulatory and F2 displacement of V1. Lip rounding associated with V2 is found to affect the F2 target and F2 transition of V1.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： " This paper presents an electropalatographic (EPG) and acoustic study of prosodic boundaries effect on the domain-initial segments in Standard Chinese.1 Two speech sounds, namely, the voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop /t/ and the high front vowel /i/, were studied to examine the domain-initial strengthening in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The articulatory and acoustic parameters of the speech sounds were compared in initial positions of five prosodic constituents in Standard Chinese, namely, a Syllable, a Foot, an Immediate Phrase, an Intonational Phrase, and an Utterance. The results show that: (1) the production of the domain-initial consonantal gesture was prosodically encoded. The linguopalatal contact and the seal duration varied as a function of the prosodic boundary strength. The linguopalatal contact was dependent on the seal duration in a nonlinear fashion. Of the acoustic properties of the domain-initial stop, the total voiceless interval and voicing during closure were found to be reliable acoustic correlates that mark the hierarchical structure of the prosody. (2) At the release moment of the domain-initial stop, no consistent pattern was found to support the domain-initial strengthening. The linguopalatal contact of the vowel immediately following the domain-initial consonant did not show a clear trend of domain-initial strengthening; however, the phonatory features of vowels were indicative of pitch reset at major prosodic boundaries. These indicate that the domain-initial strengthening is restricted on the segment immediately following the boundary. In conclusion Standard Chinese strengthens the phonetic features of the domain-initial segments as a function of boundary strength, which serves as an important way to mark prosodic structure in Standard Chinese.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： " This research studies the features of chest and abdominal breathing between reciting and chanting Chinese poems of different styles. Eight participants were recruited to recite and chant 85 modern style poems (近體詩) and 39 Song poems(宋詞). The chest and abdominal breathing signals as well as speech signal were recorded simultaneously. Programs for breathing analysis have been written to extract parameters such as breathing reset amplitude, time of inhale phase, and slope of exhale phase. The results show that the poem chanting has a larger depth of breathing and amount of breath, and more frequent exhalations compared with the poem reciting. In both poem reciting and chanting, the pause and declination of chest breathing is closely correlated with the prosodic boundaries. The major function of chest breathing in speaking is to keep the extended state of the chest and provide enough breath for articulation and chest resonance. And the function of abdominal breathing is to provide stable sub-glottal pressure through contraction of abdominal muscle and diaphragm, controlling continuous airflow to produce continuous sound.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： " The purpose of this research was to investigate the association of vocal attack time (VAT) and tones in speakers of Mandarin Chinese, and to explore how tones initiated at different pitch levels affected VAT. SP and EGG signals were synchronously re corded from 72 young undergraduates or postgraduates (42 females and 30 males) while they were reading aloud a wordlist of 50 disyllabic words at their most comfortable pitch, loudness and rate. VAT measures revealed three findings . (1) Vocal attack time s hows no significant difference between the common yangping and the yangping derived from shangsheng . This, from a physiological perspective, supports the argument that the tone sequence 3 3 in Mandarin is indeed converted into 2 3, nothing else. (2) The to nes of Mandarin Chinese that start from low pitch levels (35, 21) tend to present significantly different VAT values from those that start from high pitch levels (55, 51), with mean VATs of the former being much longer than those of the latter. This embodi es the nonlinear contra variant relationship between VAT and F0 at vowel onsets. (3) There are deviations or individual differences: a small number of people do not follow this pattern.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-20
Abstract： "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-19
Abstract： " The focus is the component highlighted in the sentence, which can be broadly divided into broad focus and narrow focus. Prosodic encoding of focus can be reflected on pitch, duration and intensity. Different languages and dialects show different characteristics. This paper takes Lujiang dialect in Anhui Province as the research object, and discusses the prosodic encoding of focus in different tones with wide focus and narrow focus. The results show that the prosodic encoding of focus in Lujiang dialect is reflected in pitch, duration and intensity.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-06-19
Abstract： " We conducted an experiment consisting of five blocks to examine the effect of non-labial facial information on audiovisual speech perception. 20 Chinese native speakers were asked to report the syllables they perceived during five condition: audio-only, video-only, video-only without labial part, audiovisual and audiovisual without labial part. The materials were /pa/, /tsa/, /ta/, /tʂa/ and /ka/, which were selected according to places of articulation from front to back. The results showed that even though the non-labial facial information was not enough to distinguish non-labial consonants, they could have significant effect on auditory speech perception.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Linguistics and Applied Linguistics >> Linguistics and Applied Linguistics submitted time 2019-02-27
Abstract： " This paper is a study for an improved dynamic glottal model through high-speed imaging (HSI). As is well known, speech production comprises three parts, namely speech source, speech resonance and lip radiation. Among these three parts, speech source is the most important one because it is the basis of speech. In research on speech production, acoustical models of speech source have been well established. But the physiological speech source, that is to say, the activity of glottis is seldom researched, because the vibration of vocal folds is difficult to observe and sample. A study on glottal model was established many years ago (Kong, 2007), and in that model, the static glottis was modeled by four quarters of ellipses in three modes namely normal mode, leakage mode and open mode. The dynamic glottal control function was modeled by an approximation of multiplication of sine and exponential. The problem of the dynamic glottal model is that the control parameters can’t be well explained, though the glottis can be simulated. In this study, more high-speed images were sampled, the image processing was greatly improved and the dynamic glottal control function was modeled with parameters which were significant to speech perception.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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