Acquisition of Mandarin Tones: A Cross-Sectional Study

普通话声调的习得：横断面研究

基本信息

批准号：
7023977
负责人：
PATRICK C WONG
金额：
$ 7.51万
依托单位：
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2006
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2006-04-01 至 2008-03-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a cross-sectional study examining behavioral and neurophysiologic changes associated with learning Mandarin Chinese as a second language (L2) by native English-speaking adult learners (ages 18 years and up). It will focus on the acquisition of lexical tones, which are pitch patterns that are used to contrast word meaning in Mandarin, and is not a linguistic feature of English. At the behavioral level, various studies investigating the learning of isolated non-native consonants in non-lexical and non-communicative contexts show that with the appropriate form and degree of training, adults can learn to perceive and/or produce sounds that do not occur in their native language. However, there have been few studies that investigated the learning of lexical tones or suprasegmentals, and fewer yet that considered the use of these non-native sounds in actual communicative contexts such as words. In recent years, several studies examined neural changes associated with speech and word learning; but they are either confined to laboratory training of speech sounds, or the learning of words without considering the contribution of phonetic features, especially suprasegmentals. While cross-linguistic research has been done comparing behavioral and neurophysiologic responses of native Mandarin-speaking and native English-speaking adults perceiving Mandarin tones, none was conducted to describe changes in non-Mandarin (English) speaking subjects as they become proficient in Mandarin. The current study will involve behavioral and fMRI experiments on university students learning Mandarin Chinese at four different stages (years 1 to 4 of the university curriculum). The general hypothesis is that increased L2 proficiency will result in behavioral and neurophysiologic responses closer to those in native speakers. An understanding of language development is important for developing the most efficacious language rehabilitation programs in cases of injuries such as strokes. For the rehabilitation of adults, it is especially important to understand how adults learn.

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一项横断面研究，考察以英语为母语的成人学习者（18 岁及以上）学习普通话作为第二语言 (L2) 相关的行为和神经生理变化。它将重点关注词汇声调的习得，词汇声调是用于对比普通话单词含义的音调模式，而不是英语的语言特征。在行为层面，各种研究调查在非词汇和非交流环境中学习孤立的非母语辅音的情况表明，通过适当的形式和程度的训练，成年人可以学会感知和/或发出不会发生的声音用他们的母语。然而，很少有研究调查词汇声调或超音段的学习，而且很少有研究考虑在实际的交际环境（例如单词）中使用这些非母语声音。近年来，多项研究探讨了与言语和单词学习相关的神经变化。但它们要么仅限于语音的实验室训练，要么仅限于单词的学习，而没有考虑语音特征（尤其是超音段）的贡献。虽然已经进行了跨语言研究，比较了以普通话为母语的成年人和以英语为母语的成年人感知普通话声调的行为和神经生理反应，但没有进行任何研究来描述非普通话（英语）受试者在精通普通话后的变化。目前的研究将涉及对在四个不同阶段（大学课程的第一年至第四年）学习普通话的大学生进行行为和功能磁共振成像实验。一般假设是，第二语言熟练程度的提高将导致行为和神经生理反应更接近母语人士的反应。了解语言发展对于在中风等伤害情况下制定最有效的语言康复计划非常重要。对于成人的康复来说，了解成人如何学习尤为重要。