Restricted access

Research article

First published online May 5, 2016

Request permissions

Dissimilation in the second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones

Hang Zhang [email protected]View all authors and affiliations

Volume 32, Issue 3

https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658316644293

Abstract
References

Abstract

This article extends Optimality Theoretic studies to the research on second language tone phonology. Specifically, this work analyses the acquisition of identical tone sequences in Mandarin Chinese by adult speakers of three non-tonal languages: English, Japanese and Korean. This study finds that the learners prefer not to use identical lexical tones on adjacent syllables, especially the contour tone sequences. It is argued that the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) was playing a role in shaping the second language Chinese tonal phonology even though it was not learned from these speakers’ native languages, nor found widely applied in the target language. The acquisition order of tone pairs suggests an interacting effect of the OCP and the Tonal Markedness Scale. This study presents a constraint-based analysis and proposes a four-stage path of OCP sub-constraint re-ranking to account for the error patterns found in the phonological experiment.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

References

Alderete J (1997) Dissimilation as local conjunction. Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society 27: 17–32. Amherst, MA.

Alderete J (2003) Phonological processes: Dissimilation. In: Frawley W (ed.) International encyclopedia of linguistics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 323–24.

Alderete J, Frisch S (2007) Dissimilation in grammar and the lexicon. In: de Lacy P (ed.) The Cambridge handbook of phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 379–98.

Alderete J, Tupper P, Frisch S (2013) Phonological constraint induction in a connectionist network: learning OCP-Place constraints from data. Supplemental materials: Data supplement, software supplement. Language Sciences 37: 52–69.

Archibald J (1998) Second language phonology, phonetics, and typology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20: 189–211.

Bao ZM (1999) Tonal contour and register harmony in ChaoZhou. Linguistic Inquiry 30: 485–93.

Barlow J, Gierut J (1999) Optimality Theory in phonological acquisition. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 42: 1482–98.

Boersma P, Hayes B (2001) Empirical tests of the gradual learning algorithm. Linguistic Inquiry 32: 45–86.

Boersma P, Levelt C (2000) Gradual constraint-ranking learning algorithm predicts acquisition order. Proceedings of Child Language Research Forum 30: 229–37. Stanford, CA.

Boersma P, Weenink D (2011) Praat: doing phonetics by computer [computer program]. Version 5.2.17. Available at: http://www.praat.org (accessed March 2016).

Broselow E (2004) Unmarked structures and emergent rankings in second language phonology. International Journal of Bilingualism 8: 51–65.

Broselow E, Xu Z (2004) Differential difficulty in the acquisition of second language phonology. International Journal of English Studies 4: 135–63.

Broselow E, Chen S, Wang C (1998) The emergence of the unmarked in second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20: 261–80.

Cardoso W (2007) The variable development of English word-final stops by Brazilian Portuguese speakers: A stochastic Optimality Theory account. Language Variation and Change 19: 219–48.

Cardoso W (2011) Onset-nucleus sharing and the acquisition of second language codas: A stochastic Optimality Theoretic account. Studia Linguistica 65: 198–231.

Cheng C (1973) A quantitative study of tone in Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1: 93–110.

Duanmu S (2000) The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eckman FR (2004) From phonemic differences to constraint rankings: Research on second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 26: 513–49.

Epstein S, Flynn S, Martohardjono G (1996) Second language acquisition: Theoretical and experimental issues in contemporary research. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 19: 677–758.

Goldsmith J (1976) An overview of autosegmental phonology Linguistic Analysis 2: 23–68.

Gordon M (2001) A typology of contour tone restrictions. Studies in Language 25: 405–44.

Gussenhoven C (2004) The phonology of tone and intonation. Research surveys in linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hancin-Bhatt B (1998) Optimality and stages of L2 syllables. Unpublished paper presented at the 1998 Second Language Research Forum, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Hancin-Bhatt B (2000) Optimality in second language phonology: Codas in Thai ESL. Second Language Research 16: 201–32.

Hancin-Bhatt B (2008) Second language phonology in Optimality Theory. In: Edwards J, Zampini J (eds) Phonology and second language acquisition. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Hancin-Bhatt B, Bhatt R (1997) Optimal L2 syllables: Interaction of transfer and developmental effects. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19: 331–78.

HSK Department, Chinese government (1992) Handbook of the graded vocabulary for HSK. Beijing: Beijing Language Institute Press.

Hayes R (2000) Reranking stages in OT analysis of the acquisition of Japanese as a second language. Carolina Working Papers in Linguistics 1: 1–1.

Hu ZL (2008) Zuowei waiyu de hanyu jiaoxue [Teaching Chinese as a foreign langauge]. Foreign Language Education in China 1(2): 3–10.

Hyman L, VanBik K (2004) Directional rule application and output problems in Hakha Lai Tone. Language and Linguistics 5: 821–61.

Jun SA (1996) The phonetics and phonology of Korean prosody. New York / London: Garland.

Jun SA (2005) Prosodic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kubozono H (2011) Japanese pitch accent. In: van Oostendorp M, Ewen CJ, Hume E, Rice K (eds) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 2879–2907.

Lado R (1968) Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Leben W (1973) Suprasegmental phonology. Unpublished PhD dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Li C, Thompson S (1977) The acquisition of tone in Mandarin-speaking children. Journal of Child Language 4: 185–99.

Liberman M (1975) The intonational system of English. Unpublished PhD dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Liu YH, et al. (2009) Integrated Chinese. 3rd edition. Boston, MA, USA: Cheng & Tsui Company.

Lombardi L (2003) Second language data and constraints on manner: Explaining substitutions for the English interdentals. Second Language Research 19: 225–50.

Major R (2001) Foreign accent: The ontogeny and phylogeny of second language phonology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

McCarthy J (1986) OCP Effects: Gemination and antigemination. Linguistic Inquiry 17: 207–64.

McCarthy J, Prince A (1993a) Prosodic morphology I: Constraint interaction and satisfaction. Technical Report. Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science, New Brunswick, NJ. [Available on Rutgers Optimality Archive, ROA-482].

McCarthy J, Prince A (1993b) Generalized alignment. In: Booij G, van Marle J (eds) Yearbook of Morphology. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 79–153. [Available on Rutgers Optimality Archive, ROA-7].

McCarthy J, Prince A (1994) The emergence of the unmarked: Optimality in prosodic morphology. Papers from the Annual Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society 24: 333–79.

McCarthy J, Prince A (1995) Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In: Beckman J, Dickey L, Urbanczyk S (eds.) University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18. Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications, pp. 249–384. [Available on Rutgers Optimality Archive, ROA-103].

Mei TL (1977) Tones and tone sandhi in 16th century Mandarin. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 5: 237–60.

Ohala J (1978) Production of tone. In: Fromkin VA (ed.) Tone: A linguistic survey. New York: Academic Press, pp. 3–39.

Pater J (2009) Weighted constraints in generative linguistics. Cognitive Science 33: 999–1035.

Pierrehumbert JB (1980) The phonology and phonetics of English intonation. Unpublished PhD dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Pike K (1948) Tone languages. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Prince A, Smolensky P (1993) Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Malden, MA: Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science. [Available on Rutgers Optimality Archive, ROA-537].

Shang XY (2000) Dui Hanyu Shuiping Cihui Dengji Dagang Jia Yi Ji Ci Shengdiao Guilv de Diaocha [A survey of the tone distribution]. Chinese Teaching in the World 2: 43–47.

Shepherd MA (2003) Constraint interactions in Spanish phonotactics: An optimality theory analysis of syllable-level phenomena in the Spanish language. Unpublished MA thesis, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA.

Shih CL, Lu HY (2010) Prosody transfer and suppression: Stages of tone acquisition. Speech Prosody 2010 Conference Proceedings. Chicago. Available at: http://speechprosody2010.illinois.edu/papers/100968.pdf (accessed March 2016).

Smolensky P (1993) Harmony, markedness, and phonological activity. Unpublished handout to talk presented at the Rutgers Optimality Workshop 1, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.

Sun S (1998) The development of a lexical tone phonology in American adult learners of standard Mandarin Chinese. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press.

Suzuki K (1998) A typological investigation of dissimilation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.

Tesar B, Smolensky P (1998) Learnability in Optimality Theory. Linguistic Inquiry 29: 229–68.

Tesar B, Smolensky P (2000) Learnability in Optimality Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Venditti J (2005) The J_ToBI Model of Japanese intonation. In: Jun SA (eds) Prosodic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 172–200.

Xu Y (1997) Contextual tonal variations in Mandarin. Journal of Phonetics 25: 61–83.

Yip M (1988) The Obligatory Contour Principle and phonological rules: A loss of identity. Linguistic Inquiry 19: 65–100.

Yip M (1989) Contour tones. Phonology 6, 149–74.

Yip M (2002) Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Young-Scholten M (1994) On positive evidence and ultimate attainment in L2 phonology. Second Language Research 10: 193–214.

Zhang H (2010) Phonological universals and tone acquisition. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association 45: 39–65.

Zhang H (2013) The second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones by English, Japanese and Korean Speakers. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Zhang H (2014) The third tone: Allophones, sandhi rules and pedagogy. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association 49: 117–45.

Zhang H (2015) Positional effects in second language Chinese tones. Journal of Chinese Language Teaching 12: 1–30.

Zhang J (2002) The effects of duration and sonority on contour tone distribution: A typological survey and formal analysis. New York: Routledge.

Zhang J (2004) The role of contrast-specific and language-specific phonetics in contour tone distribution. In: Hayes B, Kirchner R, Steriade D (eds) Phonetically based phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 157–90.

Zhang J (2009) Contour tone distribution is not an artifact of tonal melody mapping. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 33: 73–132.

Zhu H, Dodd B (2000) The phonological acquisition of Putonghua (Modern Standard Chinese). Journal of Child Language 27: 3–42.

Zoll C (2004) Positional asymmetries and licensing. In: McCarthy J (ed.) Optimality Theory in Phonology: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 365–378.

|

You currently have no access to this content. Visit the access options page to authenticate.