The function of pitch movements varies across languages. Tone languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, use pitch configurations to differentiate between word forms. For non-tone languages (such as... Show moreThe function of pitch movements varies across languages. Tone languages, such as Mandarin Chinese, use pitch configurations to differentiate between word forms. For non-tone languages (such as Dutch and English), pitch information is mainly used at the post-lexical level, e.g., to signal sentential prominence or delimit prosodic constituents. Therefore, learning to use lexical tones is always difficult for non-tone second language learners of Mandarin who are not familiar with using pitch information in a lexically contrastive way. This thesis investigates various aspects of production and perception of tones by beginning and advanced Dutch learners of Mandarin. Through a series of four experiments, this thesis examines the developmental path of Dutch learners of Mandarin at the university level in their acquisition of fine-grained tonal coarticulation patterns, distribution of attention between segments and tones, phonological processing of tones and using tonal information in spoken word recognition. The mechanisms underlying the learners’ tone acquisition are discussed with reference to current theories and models of second language acquisition and spoken word recognition. Show less
This study investigates the perception and production of emotional prosody by native and non-native listeners and speakers, i.e. Chinese and Dutch listeners and speakers, including Dutch L2... Show moreThis study investigates the perception and production of emotional prosody by native and non-native listeners and speakers, i.e. Chinese and Dutch listeners and speakers, including Dutch L2 learners of Chinese. There is an acoustic analysis in this dissertation which shows the differences between three types of production of emotional prosody, i.e., Chinese L1, Dutch L2 and Dutch L1. This study also studies the in-group advantage and the cross-cultural perceptual ability of recognizing emotional prosody in an unknown language. Furthermore, the functional view is tested in this study, predicting that listeners of a tonal language will be less intent on paralinguistic use of prosody than listeners of a non-tonal language. This study describes three judgment studies in total. The first two judgment studies were carried out with native and non-native speakers and listeners of Chinese, and using Chinese native speakers and listeners to provide a baseline. The third study was conducted to test how well novice Chinese and Dutch listeners recognize emotional prosody expressed in their native language and in the other language. The results show that Dutch L2 speakers of Chinese are not able to produce emotional prosody as well as Chinese native speakers do; neither are they able to vocally express emotion as recognizable as they do in their L1. It seems that Dutch L2 speakers of Chinese develop a hybrid system for expressing emotional prosody in the L2. Moreover, the functional view is supported, indicating that Dutch listeners are generally better than Chinese listeners in recognizing emotional prosody, regardless the language in which the emotion is expressed. This dissertation is of interest to linguists, psychologists, phoneticians, language instructors or coaches, and those who work in the perception and/or production of emotion cross-culturally. Show less
