ArticleLanguage learning and development : the official journal of the Society for Language Development2020
Plasticity in second language learning: The case of Mandarin tones.
Article in Language learning and development : the official journal of the Society for Language Development, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Korean Learners' Acquisition of Mandarin Disyllabic Tone Sequences Across Proficiency Levels.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- A meta-analytic review of Mandarin tone perception: tone height and tone contour, prosodic background, and L2 experience.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Second Language Experience Facilitates Statistical Learning of Novel Linguistic Materials.Cognitive science · 2017Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Adults typically struggle to perceive non-native sound contrasts, especially those that conflict with their first language. Do the same challenges persist when the sound contrasts overlap but do not conflict? To address this question, we explored the acquisition of lexical tones. While tonal variations are present in many languages, they are only used contrastively in tonal languages. We investigated the perception of Mandarin tones by adults with differing experience with Mandarin, including naïve listeners, classroom learners, and native speakers. Naïve listeners discriminated Mandarin tones at above-chance levels, and performance significantly improved after just one month of classroom exposure. Additional evidence for plasticity came from advanced classroom learners, whose tonemic perception was indistinguishable from that of native speakers. The results suggest that unlike many other non-native contrasts, adults studying a language in the classroom can readily acquire the perceptual skills needed to discriminate Mandarin tones.
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