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，研究了与学习普通话中文作为第二语言（L2）相关的行为和神经生理学的变化，由讲英语的成人学习者（18岁及以上）。它将集中于获取词汇音调，这些音调是用来对比普通话含义的音高模式，而不是英语的语言特征。在行为层面上，各种研究调查了在非障碍和非交流性环境中学习孤立的非本地辅音的学习，表明，有了适当的培训形式和程度，成年人可以学会感知和/或产生没有以其母语而出现的声音。但是，很少有研究研究了词汇色调或上段的学习，而较少考虑在实际交流环境（例如单词）中使用这些非本地声音的研究。近年来，几项研究检查了与语音和单词学习相关的神经变化。但是它们要么仅限于语音的实验室培训，要么不考虑语音特征的贡献，尤其是上段的贡献。虽然已经完成了跨语言研究，以比较以讲普通话和英语为英语的成年人的行为和神经生理的反应，但他们认为普通话的音调没有任何人来描述非曼达林（英语）说话学科的变化，因为他们在普通话中变得熟练。当前的研究将涉及在四个不同阶段（大学课程的1至4年）学习普通话中文的行为和fMRI实验。一般假设是，L2的提高将导致行为和神经生理学反应更接近母语者的行为。对语言发展的理解对于制定最有效的语言康复计划很重要，例如中风等受伤。对于成年人的康复，了解成年人的学习方式尤为重要。