Dataset Information

The role of phoneme in Mandarin Chinese production: evidence from ERPs.

ABSTRACT: Established linguistic theoretical frameworks propose that alphabetic language speakers use phonemes as phonological encoding units during speech production whereas Mandarin Chinese speakers use syllables. This framework was challenged by recent neural evidence of facilitation induced by overlapping initial phonemes, raising the possibility that phonemes also contribute to the phonological encoding process in Chinese. However, there is no evidence of non-initial phoneme involvement in Chinese phonological encoding among representative Chinese speakers, rendering the functional role of phonemes in spoken Chinese controversial. Here, we addressed this issue by systematically investigating the word-initial and non-initial phoneme repetition effect on the electrophysiological signal using a picture-naming priming task in which native Chinese speakers produced disyllabic word pairs. We found that overlapping phonemes in both the initial and non-initial position evoked more positive ERPs in the 180- to 300-ms interval, indicating position-invariant repetition facilitation effect during phonological encoding. Our findings thus revealed the fundamental role of phonemes as independent phonological encoding units in Mandarin Chinese.

SUBMITTER: Yu M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4156350 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The role of phoneme in Mandarin Chinese production: evidence from ERPs.

Yu Mengxia M Mo Ce C Mo Lei L

PloS one 20140905 9

Established linguistic theoretical frameworks propose that alphabetic language speakers use phonemes as phonological encoding units during speech production whereas Mandarin Chinese speakers use syllables. This framework was challenged by recent neural evidence of facilitation induced by overlapping initial phonemes, raising the possibility that phonemes also contribute to the phonological encoding process in Chinese. However, there is no evidence of non-initial phoneme involvement in Chinese ph ...[more]

PMID: 25191857

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Project description:BackgroundChinese/Mandarin language instruction to undergraduate students from non-Chinese speaking countries has become a topic of increasing interest, driven by China's influential role in global political and economic dynamics. With Mandarin being the language spoken by approximately 70% of Chinese speakers, it is not only taught within China but also in institutions around the world. While teaching any second or foreign language presents unique challenges, the specific challenges faced in Mandarin language education have not received comprehensive scrutiny, prompting the need for further investigation.ObjectivesThe primary objective of this study was to explore the challenges associated with teaching and learning Mandarin from the perspectives of non-native Mandarin language teachers. By adopting a qualitative (phenomenological) research approach, we aimed to uncover the multifaceted challenges that confront both educators and learners in the context of Mandarin language instruction.MethodologyThe research methodology employed for this study involved the use of semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 Mandarin language teachers, who were chosen through theoretical sampling. These interviews were transcribed into text files and subsequently subjected to qualitative data analysis, which was facilitated by the use of MAQDA software. This approach allowed us to identify and categorize the various challenges and problems encountered in the teaching and learning of Mandarin.FindingsThe research findings revealed a range of challenges and problems experienced in Mandarin language education. These challenges were grouped into two primary thematic categories: psycho-linguistic and educational challenges. The linguistic challenges are deeply rooted in the distinctive features of the Mandarin language, presenting obstacles that necessitate innovative teaching strategies and materials. Educational challenges extend beyond native speaker proficiency, emphasizing the requirement for a comprehensive pedagogical skill set among instructors.ImplicationsThe implications of this research extend to various stakeholders in the field of Chinese/Mandarin language education, including policymakers, educators, curriculum designers, and learners. Understanding the linguistic, educational, and psychological challenges can inform the development of more effective teaching methods, curriculum design, and motivation-enhancing strategies, ultimately promoting a more successful and engaging Mandarin language learning experience for non-native speakers.

Project description:Psycholinguistic research has long established that focus-marked words have a processing advantage over other words in an utterance, e.g., they are recognized more quickly and remembered better. More recently, studies have shown that listeners infer contextual alternatives to a focused word in a spoken utterance, when marked with a contrastive accent, even when the alternatives are not explicitly mentioned in the discourse. This has been shown by strengthened priming of contextual alternatives to the word, but not other non-contrastive semantic associates, when it is contrastively accented, e.g., after hearing "The customer opened the window," salesman is strongly primed, but not product. This is consistent with Rooth's (1992) theory that focus-marking signals the presence of alternatives to the focus. However, almost all of the research carried out in this area has been on Germanic languages. Further, most of this work has looked only at one kind of focus-marking, by contrastive accenting (prosody). This paper reports on a cross-modal lexical priming study in Mandarin Chinese, looking at whether focus-marking heightens activation, i.e., priming, of words and their alternatives. Two kinds of focus-marking were investigated: prosodic and syntactic. Prosodic prominence is an important means of focus-marking in Chinese, however, it is realized through pitch range expansion, rather than accenting. The results showed that focused words, as well as their alternatives, were primed when the subject prime word carried contrastive prosodic prominence. Syntactic focus-marking, however, did not enhance priming of focused words or their alternatives. Non-contrastive semantic associates were not primed with either kind of focus-marking. These results extend previous findings on focus and alternative priming for the first time to Chinese. They also suggest that the processing advantages of focus, including priming alternatives, are particularly related to prosodic prominence, at least in Chinese and Germanic languages. This research sheds light on what linguistic mechanisms listeners use to identify important information, generate alternatives, and understand implicature necessary for successful communication.

Dataset Information

The role of phoneme in Mandarin Chinese production: evidence from ERPs.

Publications

The role of phoneme in Mandarin Chinese production: evidence from ERPs.

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