Production and perception of focus in L2 Mandarin of Qiang speakers

Xiaxia Zhang, Bei Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The present study investigated production and perception of focus in L2 Mandarin of Qiang speakers. Three target sentences were uttered under four focus conditions, i.e., initial, medial, final and neutral focus by 10 Qiang-Mandarin speakers. Systematic acoustic analysis showed that: (1) In Qiang-Mandarin, on-focus words exhibit significant F0 rising, intensity increasing and duration lengthening. There is no Post-focus Compression (PFC). The duration of pre-focus and post-focus words remains largely intact. (2) The perception of focus in Qiang-Mandarin is with relatively low accuracy, the average hitting rate is 28.1%, only slightly higher than chance. The average correct identification of initial and medial focus is 34.4%, which is higher than final focus (26%). It indicates that PFC is a very effective cue in focus perception.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of 2016 10th International Symposium on Chinese Spoken Language Processing, ISCSLP 2016
EditorsHsin-Min Wang, Qingzhi Hou, Yuan Wei, Tan Lee, Jianguo Wei, Lei Xie, Hui Feng, Jianwu Dang, Jianwu Dang
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781509042937
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 May 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event10th International Symposium on Chinese Spoken Language Processing, ISCSLP 2016 - Tianjin, China
Duration: 17 Oct 201620 Oct 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of 2016 10th International Symposium on Chinese Spoken Language Processing, ISCSLP 2016

Conference

Conference10th International Symposium on Chinese Spoken Language Processing, ISCSLP 2016
Country/TerritoryChina
CityTianjin
Period17/10/1620/10/16

Keywords

  • Focus
  • Post-focus Compression (PFC)
  • Qiang-Mandarin

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