Gestural overlap across word boundaries: evidence from English and Mandarins speakers

dc.contributor.authorLuo, Shan
dc.contributor.supervisorLin, Hua
dc.contributor.supervisorBird, Sonya Frances
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-26T21:18:29Z
dc.date.available2017-01-15T12:22:05Z
dc.date.copyright2016en_US
dc.date.issued2016-01-26
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Linguistics
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis research examines how competing factors determine the articulation of English stop-stop sequences across word boundaries in both native (L1) and nonnative (L2) speech. The two general questions that drive this research are 1) how is consonantal coordination implemented across English words? And 2) is this implementation different in L1 versus L2 speech? A group of 15 native English (NE) speakers and a group of 25 native Mandarin speakers (NM) who use English as a foreign language (ESL) participated in this study. The stimuli employed in this research were designed along four major parameters: 1) place of articulation, 2) lexical frequency, 3) stress, and 4) speech rate. The release percentages and closure duration ratios produced by English and Mandarin speakers were measured. The results showed that place of articulation had different effects on English and Mandarin speakers in their English stop-stop coarticulation, especially in heterorganic clusters. Specifically, a place order effect (i.e., more releases and more overlap in front-back clusters than in back-front clusters; POE) was only partially supported in native speech but not shown at all in nonnative speech in the current research. The results also confirmed a gradient lexical frequency effect, finding a significant correlation between self-rated frequency and overlap. A group difference was observed in the interaction between the effects of place of articulation and categorical frequency (real words vs. nonwords). In addition, the results showed, unexpectedly, a stronger stress effect for the NM group rather than for the NE group. Further analyses showed that increased speech rate did not systematically induce increased temporal overlap, because speakers from both groups varied in their behavior, having either more or less overlap at the fast speech rate than at the slow rate. Lastly, the analyses found no correlation between closure duration ratio and perceived accent in L2 speech. This finding was not predicted, given that timing features had always been considered critical to foreign accent perception.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitation2015 Luo, S (first author) and Hua, Lin. English speakers’ perception and production of Mandarin intonation and tone. In the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPHS). Glasgow, UK.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitation2013a Luo, S. Explaining Mandarin T3S within an Articulatory Phonology framework. In Canadian Linguistics Association Proceedings, ed. Shan Luo, Victoria, Canada.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitation2013b Luo, S. English learners’ perception and production of Mandarin tone and intonation. In Applied Canadian Linguistics Association Proceedings. Victoria, Canada. 4.3. Book (co-authored)en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitation2010 Chen, X, Chen, Y-Y, Li, N, Duan, Y, Luo, S. Chinese on Live-Advanced Listening Course. Beijing: Higher Education Pressen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/7050
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectgestural overlapen_US
dc.subjectconsonant cluster coarticulationen_US
dc.subjectplace order effecten_US
dc.subjectMandarin speakersen_US
dc.subjectfrequencyen_US
dc.titleGestural overlap across word boundaries: evidence from English and Mandarins speakersen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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