Phonetic and Phono-Lexical Accuracy of Non-Native Tone Production by English-L1 and Mandarin-L1 Speakers.
Tim Joris Laméris, Katrina Kechun Li, Brechtje Post
PMID 36642793WHAT IT FOUND
Speaking a tonal first language did not make learning a new tone system easier.
Instead, accuracy depended on the specific tone shape. Mandarin speakers struggled to distinguish low and mid-level tones, while English speakers made errors across all tones.
Key findings
01Mandarin speakers were not more accurate than English speakers at imitating non-native tones, contradicting the idea that tonal language experience provides a general advantage.
02Mandarin speakers specifically struggled with level tones, often producing low-level tones with a pitch that was too high.
03In picture naming, Mandarin speakers frequently confused low-level and mid-level tones, whereas English speakers made tone errors across all categories.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used pseudowords rather than real words, which may not reflect the complexity of learning vocabulary in a real-world context. Only two native languages (English and Mandarin) were compared, so results may not generalize to speakers of other tonal or non-tonal languages. The imitation task was relatively easy, which may have masked the benefits of musical experience or pitch aptitude that were visible in the more demanding picture-naming task.
Declared interests
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and a St John’s College Learning and Research Fund. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that Mandarin speakers are better at learning new tones than English speakers. The study found no overall advantage for tonal language speakers; instead, Mandarin speakers had specific difficulties with level tones that English speakers did not share.