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Li S, Tong X, Shen W. Influence of Lexical Tone Similarity on Spoken Word Recognition in Mandarin Chinese: Evidence From Eye Tracking. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:3453-3472. [PMID: 37541306 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Using the visual world paradigm with the eye-tracking technique, this study examined the extent to which lexical tone similarity influences spoken word recognition. METHOD In two experiments, participants were audibly presented with a target word and visually presented with the same target word, a tonal competitor, and two distractors, and they were required to identify the target word. In Experiment 1, the two tonal competitors shared either acoustically highly similar tones (e.g., target word: "" /yang2tai2/, "balcony" vs. competitor: "" /yang3zi3/, "adopted son") or acoustically lowly similar tones (e.g., target word: "" /yang2tai2/, "balcony" vs. competitor: "" /yang4ben3/, "sample"). In Experiment 2, the acoustic similarity of the target words and the tonal competitors shared either acoustically highly similar tones or acoustically lowly similar tones or identical tones (e.g., target word: "" /yang2tai2/, "balcony" vs. competitor: "" /yang2mao2/, "wool"). RESULTS The results of the two experiments consistently demonstrated a graded tonal competitor effect, in which acoustically highly similar tonal competitors attracted more visual attention than acoustically lowly similar tonal competitors. CONCLUSION Tonal similarity plays a graded constraining role in spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuang Li
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, China
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, China
| | - Xiuhong Tong
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, China
| | - Wei Shen
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, China
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, China
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2
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Wong ECH, Wong MN, Velleman SL, Tong MCF, Lee KYS. Lexical tone perception and production in Cantonese-speaking children with childhood apraxia of speech: a pilot study. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2023; 37:316-329. [PMID: 35678458 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2022.2074310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a paediatric motor speech disorder. We investigated the lexical tone perception and production abilities of children with CAS and the relationships between the two. Three children with CAS, aged between 3;7 and 5;8, were given the Cantonese Tone Identification Test (CANTIT) and the Hong Kong Cantonese Articulation Test (HKCAT) for assessment of tone perception and production, respectively. Accuracy and error patterns were investigated based on their performance on the two tests. Correlation analysis was performed on children's perception and production scores. Two children scored at the lowest rank on the CANTIT, while one child obtained a Z score of 0. All children scored three standard deviations below the mean on the HKCAT. No statistical differences were found among the six tones with respect to perception accuracy, H(5) = 3.731, p = 0.589. Error analysis showed that children with CAS demonstrated more confusion on perceiving tones compared with TD peers. There were no main effects for task (F(1,2) = 0.040, p = 0.859) or tone (F(5,10 = 0.997, p = 0.467); nor were there task or tone interaction effects on perception versus production accuracy (F(5,10) = 1.772, p = 0.206). Tone perception and production accuracy were not significantly correlated (r2 = 0.181, p = 0.078). Tone perception deficits were evident in two out of three children with CAS, while all children had lexical tone production difficulties. In this small sample, tone production was more universally affected than tone perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eddy C H Wong
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Min Ney Wong
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China
- Research Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Shelley L Velleman
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Michael C F Tong
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery & the Institute of Human Communicative Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Kathy Y S Lee
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery & the Institute of Human Communicative Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
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Sheng L, Yu J, Su PL, Wang D, Lu TH, Shen L, Hao Y, Lam BPW. Developmental language disorder in Chinese children: A systematic review of research from 1997 to 2022. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 241:105268. [PMID: 37156064 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 04/09/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Developmental language disorder (DLD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. The influences of DLD on language development have been delineated in detail in English. The same is not true for Chinese, a group of Sinitic languages with distinct typological features that may modify the profile of DLD crosslinguistically. We conducted a systematic search of English and Chinese journal databases and reviewed 59 studies on the manifestations of DLD in Chinese. Methodological quality appraisal of the literature revealed several areas of improvement to enhance transparency and replicability. A bibliometric analysis indicated a steep growth trajectory of this literature. Examination of the participant selection and diagnostic criteria revealed limitations and calls for the development of assessment tools and increased knowledge of evidenced-based diagnostic practice. Areas of deficits demonstrated by Chinese children with DLD were synthesized qualitatively and discussed in light of the literature on clinical markers of DLD in English.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Sheng
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Special Administrative Region of China.
| | - Jiayu Yu
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Special Administrative Region of China
| | | | | | | | - Lue Shen
- Boston University, United States
| | - Ying Hao
- Nanjing Normal University, China
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Nayar K, Kang X, Xing J, Gordon PC, Wong PCM, Losh M. A cross-cultural study showing deficits in gaze-language coordination during rapid automatized naming among individuals with ASD. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13401. [PMID: 34183686 PMCID: PMC8238959 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91911-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their first-degree relatives demonstrate automaticity deficits reflected in reduced eye-voice coordination during rapid automatized naming (RAN), suggesting that RAN deficits may be a genetically meaningful marker of ASD language-related impairments. This study investigated whether RAN deficits in ASD extend to a language typologically distinct from English. Participants included 23 Cantonese-speaking individuals with ASD and 39 controls from Hong Kong (HK), and age- and IQ-comparable groups of previously-studied English-speaking individuals with ASD (n = 45) and controls (n = 44) from the US. Participants completed RAN on an eye tracker. Analyses examined naming time, error rate, measures of eye movement reflecting language automaticity, including eye-voice span (EVS; location of eyes versus the named item) and refixations. The HK-ASD group exhibited longer naming times and more refixations than HK-Controls, in a pattern similar to that observed in the US-ASD group. Cultural effects revealed that both HK groups showed longer EVS and more fixations than US groups. Naming time and refixation differences may be ASD-specific impairments spanning cultures/languages, whereas EVS and fixation frequency may be more variably impacted. A potential underlying mechanism of visual "stickiness" may be contributing to this breakdown in language automaticity in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kritika Nayar
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Frances Searle Building, #2-366, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Xin Kang
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jiayin Xing
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Frances Searle Building, #2-366, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Peter C Gordon
- Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Molly Losh
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Frances Searle Building, #2-366, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
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Chung WL, Jarmulowicz L, Bidelman GM. Cross-linguistic contributions of acoustic cues and prosodic awareness to first and second language vocabulary knowledge. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING 2021; 44:434-452. [PMID: 35782599 PMCID: PMC9248869 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Several studies have revealed that prosody contributes to reading acquisition. However, the relation between awareness of prosodic patterns and different facets of language ability (e.g., vocabulary knowledge) in school-age children remains unclear. This study measured awareness of prosodic patterns using non-speech and speech stimuli. METHODS Hierarchical regression equations were computed to examine links among auditory cues (e.g., amplitude rise time, pitch contour and interval), language-specific prosodic awareness and children's vocabulary knowledge in Mandarin as a first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2) after controlling for age and nonverbal IQ. RESULTS Results revealed that (1) amplitude envelope rise time discrimination predicted Mandarin L1 and English L2 vocabulary knowledge, (2) Mandarin tone perception and rhyme awareness did not predict Mandarin L1 vocabulary and (3) English rhyme awareness better predicted English L2 vocabulary than did stress production. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that (1) amplitude rise time, which signals syllable boundaries, is a cross-linguistic predictor of vocabulary knowledge and (2) the development of English L2 vocabulary may depend on phonological more than prosodic awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Lun Chung
- Center for Teacher Education and Career Service, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan and Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Linda Jarmulowicz
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA and Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Gavin M Bidelman
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA and Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
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Cheng YY, Wu HC, Shih HY, Yeh PW, Yen HL, Lee CY. Deficits in Processing of Lexical Tones in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Electrophysiological Evidence. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:1176-1188. [PMID: 33789056 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-19-00392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose This study explored the neural marker indexing deficits in discriminating lexical tone changes in Mandarin-speaking children with developmental language disorders (DLDs) using mismatch negativity, an event-related potential component for auditory change detection. Mandarin has four lexical tones characterized by a high-level tone (T1), high-rising tone (T2), low-dipping tone (T3), and high-falling tone (T4), in which the T2/T3 contrast is acoustically less discriminable in developmental groups. Therefore, this study further examined how deficits in children with DLD would vary with tonal contrasts' acoustic saliency. Method Event-related potentials were measured using the multideviant oddball paradigm described by Lee et al. (2012), who used Mandarin syllables [i] in T3 as the standard sound (80%), T1 as the large deviant (10%), and T2 as the small deviant (10%). Twelve children with DLD aged between 4 and 6 years participated in this study, and 12 age-matched children with typical development were selected from the data set of Lee et al. (2012) as the controls. Results The T1/T3 change elicited adultlike mismatch negativity in both the DLD and control groups, while no group difference was revealed. The T2/T3 change elicited a robust positive mismatch response (P-MMR) in children with DLD, while the P-MMR was less significant in the control group. The group comparisons revealed a larger P-MMR in children with DLD than in the control group. Furthermore, children with lower scores in language assessments tend to reveal larger P-MMRs. Conclusions This study demonstrated that deficits in children with DLD in discriminating subtle lexical tone changes reflect greater positivity of P-MMR to T2/T3 change. This implies that MMR to T2/T3 may serve as a neural marker for evaluating language delay in preschoolers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hsin-Chi Wu
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taiwan
- School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
| | - Hsin-Yi Shih
- Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
| | - Pei-Wen Yeh
- Research Center for Mind, Brain and Learning, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan
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Chung WL, Bidelman GM. Mandarin-speaking preschoolers' pitch discrimination, prosodic and phonological awareness, and their relation to receptive vocabulary and reading abilities. READING AND WRITING 2021; 34:337-353. [PMID: 34326571 PMCID: PMC8315586 DOI: 10.1007/s11145-020-10075-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Cross-linguistic studies have reported that prosodic pattern awareness (e.g., lexical stress and lexical tone) is more important to reading acquisition than phonological awareness. However, few longitudinal studies have been conducted to explore the relations between these variables. This study examined preschoolers' pitch discrimination, prosodic and phonological awareness, and their connection to receptive vocabulary in preschool and reading abilities in first grade. Findings reveal (1) children improve their pitch discrimination and prosodic awareness from preschool to fourth grade; (2) pitch interval discrimination (frequency separation between tones) contributes to receptive vocabulary whereas pitch contour discrimination (patterns of rising and falling pitch) predicts word reading; (3) phonological awareness accounts for more variability in receptive vocabulary than prosodic awareness; whereas the reverse was found for word reading and reading comprehension. Together, prosody and its acoustic cue (i.e., pitch) play a vital role in learning to read Mandarin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Lun Chung
- Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, No. 134, Sec. 2, Heping E. Rd, Da-an District, Taipei 10671, Taiwan
- Center for Teacher Education and Career Service, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Gavin M. Bidelman
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, 4055 North Park Loop, Memphis, TN 38152, USA
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, USA
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, USA
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8
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Ong JH, Wong PCM, Liu F. Musicians show enhanced perception, but not production, of native lexical tones. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:3443. [PMID: 33379922 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Many studies have reported a musical advantage in perceiving lexical tones among non-native listeners, but it is unclear whether this advantage also applies to native listeners, who are likely to show ceiling-like performance and thus mask any potential musical advantage. The ongoing tone merging phenomenon in Hong Kong Cantonese provides a unique opportunity to investigate this as merging tone pairs are reported to be difficult to differentiate even among native listeners. In the present study, native Cantonese musicians and non-musicians were compared based on discrimination and identification of merging Cantonese tone pairs to determine whether a musical advantage in perception will be observed, and if so, whether this is seen on the phonetic and/or phonological level. The tonal space of the subjects' lexical tone production was also compared. Results indicated that the musicians outperformed the non-musicians on the two perceptual tasks, as indexed by a higher accuracy and faster reaction time, particularly on the most difficult tone pair. In the production task, however, there was no group difference in various indices of tonal space. Taken together, musical experience appears to facilitate native listeners' perception, but not production, of lexical tones, which partially supports a music-to-language transfer effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Hoong Ong
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages and Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom
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Wong PCM, Kang X, Wong KHY, So HC, Choy KW, Geng X. ASPM-lexical tone association in speakers of a tone language: Direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba5090. [PMID: 32537487 PMCID: PMC7253162 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba5090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
How language has evolved into more than 7000 varieties today remains a question that puzzles linguists, anthropologists, and evolutionary scientists. The genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution postulates that genes and language features coevolve, such that a population that is genetically predisposed to perceiving a particular linguistic feature would tend to adopt that feature in their language. Statistical studies that correlated a large number of genetic variants and linguistic features not only generated this hypothesis but also specifically pinpointed a linkage between ASPM and lexical tone. However, there is currently no direct evidence for this association and, therefore, the hypothesis. In an experimental study, we provide evidence to link ASPM with lexical tone perception in a sample of over 400 speakers of a tone language. In addition to providing the first direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis, our results have implications for further studies of linguistic anthropology and language disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick C. M. Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Xin Kang
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Kay H. Y. Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Hon-Cheong So
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Kwong Wai Choy
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Xiujuan Geng
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
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Antoniou M, Chin JLL. What Can Lexical Tone Training Studies in Adults Tell Us about Tone Processing in Children? Front Psychol 2018; 9:1. [PMID: 29410639 PMCID: PMC5787074 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2017] [Accepted: 01/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing number of studies on the acquisition of lexical tone by adult learners have revealed that factors such as language background, musical experience, cognitive abilities, and neuroanatomy all play a role in determining tone learning success. On the basis of these findings, it has been argued that the effectiveness of tone learning in adulthood depends on individual differences in these factors. However, it is not clear whether similar individual differences play an analogous role in tone learning in childhood. Indeed, relatively few studies have made comparisons between how adults and children learn lexical tones. Here, we review recent developments for tone learning in both adults and children. The review covers tone training in a range of contexts, including in naive listeners, in native speakers of other tone languages, in listeners with varying levels of musical experience, and in individuals with speech and hearing disorders. Finally, we discuss the parallels between adult and child tone learning, and provide recommendations concerning how findings in adult tone training can provide insights into tone learning for children by accommodating the needs of individual learners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Antoniou
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Liu HM, Tsao FM. Speech Perception Deficits in Mandarin-Speaking School-Aged Children with Poor Reading Comprehension. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2144. [PMID: 29312031 PMCID: PMC5735369 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that children learning alphabetic writing systems who have language impairment or dyslexia exhibit speech perception deficits. However, whether such deficits exist in children learning logographic writing systems who have poor reading comprehension remains uncertain. To further explore this issue, the present study examined speech perception deficits in Mandarin-speaking children with poor reading comprehension. Two self-designed tasks, consonant categorical perception task and lexical tone discrimination task were used to compare speech perception performance in children (n = 31, age range = 7;4-10;2) with poor reading comprehension and an age-matched typically developing group (n = 31, age range = 7;7-9;10). Results showed that the children with poor reading comprehension were less accurate in consonant and lexical tone discrimination tasks and perceived speech contrasts less categorically than the matched group. The correlations between speech perception skills (i.e., consonant and lexical tone discrimination sensitivities and slope of consonant identification curve) and individuals' oral language and reading comprehension were stronger than the correlations between speech perception ability and word recognition ability. In conclusion, the results revealed that Mandarin-speaking children with poor reading comprehension exhibit less-categorized speech perception, suggesting that imprecise speech perception, especially lexical tone perception, is essential to account for reading learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huei-Mei Liu
- Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Ming Tsao
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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12
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Iao LS, Ng LY, Wong AMY, Lee OT. Nonadjacent Dependency Learning in Cantonese-Speaking Children With and Without a History of Specific Language Impairment. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2017; 60:694-700. [PMID: 28265645 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-15-0232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2015] [Accepted: 08/09/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigated nonadjacent dependency learning in Cantonese-speaking children with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI) in an artificial linguistic context. METHOD Sixteen Cantonese-speaking children with a history of SLI and 16 Cantonese-speaking children with typical language development (TLD) were tested with a nonadjacent dependency learning task using artificial languages that mimic Cantonese. RESULTS Children with TLD performed above chance and were able to discriminate between trained and untrained nonadjacent dependencies. However, children with a history of SLI performed at chance and were not able to differentiate trained versus untrained nonadjacent dependencies. CONCLUSIONS These findings, together with previous findings from English-speaking adults and adolescents with language impairments, suggest that individuals with atypical language development, regardless of age, diagnostic status, language, and culture, show difficulties in learning nonadjacent dependencies. This study provides evidence for early impairments to statistical learning in individuals with atypical language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lai-Sang Iao
- Centre for Communication Disorders, University of Hong Kong, ChinaDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom
| | - Lai Yan Ng
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, China
| | - Anita Mei Yin Wong
- Centre for Communication Disorders, University of Hong Kong, ChinaDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, China
| | - Oi Ting Lee
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, China
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Kidd JC, Shum KK, Wong AMY, Ho CSH, Au TK. Auditory perception and word recognition in Cantonese-Chinese speaking children with and without Specific Language Impairment. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2017; 44:1-35. [PMID: 26671567 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000915000604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Auditory processing and spoken word recognition difficulties have been observed in Specific Language Impairment (SLI), raising the possibility that auditory perceptual deficits disrupt word recognition and, in turn, phonological processing and oral language. In this study, fifty-seven kindergarten children with SLI and fifty-three language-typical age-matched controls were assessed with a speech-gating task to measure spoken word recognition, psychophysical tasks to measure auditory Frequency Modulation (FM) detection and Frequency Discrimination (FD), and standardized psychometric tests of phonological processing and oral language. As a group, children with SLI took significantly longer than language-typical controls to recognize words with high neighborhood density, perhaps reflecting subpar phonological representations. FM, but not FD, was significantly worse in SLI. However, while both poorer speech-gating performance and poorer auditory thresholds (FM) were evident in SLI, spoken word recognition did not mediate any relation between auditory perception and either phonological processing or oral language.
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Maggu AR, Liu F, Antoniou M, Wong PCM. Neural Correlates of Indicators of Sound Change in Cantonese: Evidence from Cortical and Subcortical Processes. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:652. [PMID: 28066218 PMCID: PMC5179532 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2016] [Accepted: 12/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Across time, languages undergo changes in phonetic, syntactic, and semantic dimensions. Social, cognitive, and cultural factors contribute to sound change, a phenomenon in which the phonetics of a language undergo changes over time. Individuals who misperceive and produce speech in a slightly divergent manner (called innovators) contribute to variability in the society, eventually leading to sound change. However, the cause of variability in these individuals is still unknown. In this study, we examined whether such misperceptions are represented in neural processes of the auditory system. We investigated behavioral, subcortical (via FFR), and cortical (via P300) manifestations of sound change processing in Cantonese, a Chinese language in which several lexical tones are merging. Across the merging categories, we observed a similar gradation of speech perception abilities in both behavior and the brain (subcortical and cortical processes). Further, we also found that behavioral evidence of tone merging correlated with subjects' encoding at the subcortical and cortical levels. These findings indicate that tone-merger categories, that are indicators of sound change in Cantonese, are represented neurophysiologically with high fidelity. Using our results, we speculate that innovators encode speech in a slightly deviant neurophysiological manner, and thus produce speech divergently that eventually spreads across the community and contributes to sound change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akshay R Maggu
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading Reading, UK
| | - Mark Antoniou
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong, China; Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong, China; The Chinese University of Hong Kong-Utrecht University Joint Center for Language, Mind and BrainHong Kong, China
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15
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Liu F, Chan AHD, Ciocca V, Roquet C, Peretz I, Wong PCM. Pitch perception and production in congenital amusia: Evidence from Cantonese speakers. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:563. [PMID: 27475178 PMCID: PMC4958102 DOI: 10.1121/1.4955182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Revised: 06/14/2016] [Accepted: 06/21/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated pitch perception and production in speech and music in individuals with congenital amusia (a disorder of musical pitch processing) who are native speakers of Cantonese, a tone language with a highly complex tonal system. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking congenital amusics and 16 controls performed a set of lexical tone perception, production, singing, and psychophysical pitch threshold tasks. Their tone production accuracy and singing proficiency were subsequently judged by independent listeners, and subjected to acoustic analyses. Relative to controls, amusics showed impaired discrimination of lexical tones in both speech and non-speech conditions. They also received lower ratings for singing proficiency, producing larger pitch interval deviations and making more pitch interval errors compared to controls. Demonstrating higher pitch direction identification thresholds than controls for both speech syllables and piano tones, amusics nevertheless produced native lexical tones with comparable pitch trajectories and intelligibility as controls. Significant correlations were found between pitch threshold and lexical tone perception, music perception and production, but not between lexical tone perception and production for amusics. These findings provide further evidence that congenital amusia is a domain-general language-independent pitch-processing deficit that is associated with severely impaired music perception and production, mildly impaired speech perception, and largely intact speech production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom
| | - Alice H D Chan
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, S637332, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Valter Ciocca
- School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Catherine Roquet
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Isabelle Peretz
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages and Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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Singh L, Goh HH, Wewalaarachchi TD. Spoken word recognition in early childhood: Comparative effects of vowel, consonant and lexical tone variation. Cognition 2015; 142:1-11. [PMID: 26010558 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2014] [Revised: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/13/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The majority of the world's languages exploit consonants, vowels and lexical tones to contrast the meanings of individual words. However, the majority of experimental research on early language development focuses on consonant-vowel languages. In the present study, the role of consonants, vowels and lexical tones in emergent word knowledge are directly compared in toddlers (2.5-3.5 years) and preschoolers (4-5 years) who were bilingual native learners of a consonant-vowel-tone language (Mandarin Chinese). Using a preferential looking paradigm, participants were presented with correct pronunciations and consonantal, vowel, and tonal variations of known words. Responses to each type of variation were assessed via gaze fixations to a visual target. When their labels were correctly pronounced, visual targets were reliably identified at both age groups. However, in toddlers, there was a high degree of sensitivity to mispronunciations due to variation in lexical tones relative to those due to consonants and vowels. This pattern was reversed in preschoolers, who were more sensitive to consonant and vowel variation than to tone variation. Findings are discussed in terms of properties of tones, vowels and consonants and the respective role of each source of variation in tone languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leher Singh
- Dept. of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Hwee Hwee Goh
- Dept. of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
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Tong X, McBride C, Burnham D. Cues for lexical tone perception in children: acoustic correlates and phonetic context effects. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2014; 57:1589-1605. [PMID: 24817506 DOI: 10.1044/2014_jslhr-s-13-0145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Accepted: 03/24/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The authors investigated the effects of acoustic cues (i.e., pitch height, pitch contour, and pitch onset and offset) and phonetic context cues (i.e., syllable onsets and rimes) on lexical tone perception in Cantonese-speaking children. METHOD Eight minimum pairs of tonal contrasts were presented in either an identical phonetic context or in different phonetic contexts (different syllable onsets and rimes). Children were instructed to engage in tone identification and tone discrimination. RESULTS Cantonese children attended to pitch onset in perceiving similarly contoured tones and attended to pitch contour in perceiving different-contoured tones. There was a decreasing level of tone discrimination accuracy, with tone perception being easiest for same rime-different syllable onset, more difficult for different rime-same syllable onset, and most difficult for different rime-different syllable onset phonetic contexts. This pattern was observed in tonal contrasts in which the member tones had the same contour but not in ones in which the member tones had different contours. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that in addition to pitch contour, the pitch onset is another important acoustic cue for tone perception. The relative importance of acoustic cues for tone perception is phonetically context dependent. These findings are discussed with reference to a newly modified TRACE model for tone languages (TTRACE).
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Liu HM, Chen Y, Tsao FM. Developmental changes in mismatch responses to mandarin consonants and lexical tones from early to middle childhood. PLoS One 2014; 9:e95587. [PMID: 24755999 PMCID: PMC3995781 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2013] [Accepted: 03/27/2014] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to use mismatch responses (MMRs) to explore the dynamic changes of Mandarin speech perception abilities from early to middle childhood. Twenty preschoolers, 18 school-aged children, and 26 adults participated in this study. Two sets of synthesized speech stimuli varying in Mandarin consonant (alveolo-palatal affricate vs. fricative) and lexical tone features (rising vs. contour tone) were used to examine the developmental course of speech perception abilities. The results indicated that only the adult group demonstrated typical early mismatch negativity (MMN) responses, suggesting that the ability to discriminate specific speech cues in Mandarin consonant and lexical tone is a continuing process in preschool- and school-aged children. Additionally, distinct MMR patterns provided evidence indicating diverse developmental courses to different speech characteristics. By incorporating data from the two speech conditions, we propose using MMR profiles consisting of mismatch negativity (MMN), positive mismatch response (p-MMR), and late discriminative negativity (LDN) as possible brain indices to investigate speech perception development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huei-Mei Liu
- Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yuchun Chen
- Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Ming Tsao
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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Haake C, Kob M, Willmes K, Domahs F. Word stress processing in specific language impairment: auditory or representational deficits? CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2013; 27:594-615. [PMID: 23806129 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2013.798034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Word stress processing has repeatedly been reported to be affected in specific language impairment (SLI) with potential consequences for various aspects of language development. However, it still remains unresolved whether word stress impairments in SLI are due to deficits in basic auditory processing or to a degraded phonological representation or both. We addressed this question examining an unselected sample of 10 children with SLI and 11 typically developing (TD) children, aged about 8 years, with respect to their basic auditory processing (duration and skewness discrimination) and phonological representation of prosodic (word stress) and segmental (consonant) contrasts. Our results show lower performance of the SLI group compared to the TD group in all tasks. Crucially, two subgroups of children with SLI emerged from our analyses: While one group was impaired in basic auditory perception, particularly affecting duration discrimination, the other showed no significant auditory processing deficits but a representational impairment.
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Ho CSH, Leung MT, Cheung H. Early difficulties of Chinese preschoolers at familial risk for dyslexia: deficits in oral language, phonological processing skills, and print-related skills. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2011; 17:143-164. [PMID: 21294232 DOI: 10.1002/dys.429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The present study examined some early performance difficulties of Chinese preschoolers at familial risk for dyslexia. Seventy-six high-risk (40 good and 36 poor readers) and 25 low-risk Chinese children were tested on oral language, reading-related cognitive skills (e.g. phonological processing skills, rapid naming, and morphological awareness), and Chinese word reading and spelling over a 3-year period. The parents were also given a behaviour checklist for identifying child at-risk behaviours. Results showed that the High Risk (Poor Reading) group performed significantly worse than the Low Risk and the High Risk (Good Reading) group on most of the measures and domains. More children in the High Risk (Poor Reading) group displayed at-risk behaviours than in the other two groups. These results suggest that Chinese at-risk children with early difficulties in reading and spelling do show a wide range of language-, phonology-, and print-related deficits, similar to their alphabetic counterparts. An understanding of these early difficulties may help prevent dyslexia from developing in at-risk children.
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