The effect of intertalker variations on acoustic-perceptual mapping in Cantonese and Mandarin tone systems.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the impact of intertalker variations on the process of mapping acoustic variations on tone categories in two different tone languages.


METHODS
Pitch stimuli manipulated from four voice ranges were presented in isolation through a blocked-talker design. Listeners were instructed to identify the stimuli that they heard as lexical tones in their native language.


RESULTS
Tone identification of Mandarin listeners exhibited relatively stable normalization regardless of the voice, whereas tone identification of Cantonese listeners was unstable and susceptible to the influence of intertalker variations. In the case of Cantonese listeners, intertalker variations had a larger effect on the perception of F0 height dimension than of F0 slope dimension.


CONCLUSIONS
The comparison between Cantonese and Mandarin listeners' performances reveals an interaction of intertalker variations and the types of tone contrasts in each language. For Cantonese tones, which depend heavily on F0 height distinctions, intertalker variations result in F0 overlapping and, consequently, ambiguities among them in isolated tone perception. For Mandarin tones, which are distinctive in terms of their F0 contours, the differences in F0 contours alone seem sufficient to elicit reliable tone identification. Intertalker variations therefore have relatively limited effect on Mandarin tone perception.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China. gpeng@ee.cuhk.edu.hk
Gang
G
Peng
Caicai
C
Zhang
Hong-Ying
HY
Zheng
James W
JW
Minett
William S-Y
WS
Wang
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010700:Phonetics; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013060:Speech; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D055815:Young Adult