Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones
While words are distinguished primarily by consonants and vowels in many languages, tones are also used in the majority of the world's languages to cue lexical contrasts. However, studies on novel word learning have largely concentrated on consonants and vowels. To shed more light on the use of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211/full |
| _version_ | 1818493718953459712 |
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| author | Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Hui Chen Hui Chen Celia Kwok Hintat Cheung Thierry Nazzi Thierry Nazzi |
| author_facet | Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Hui Chen Hui Chen Celia Kwok Hintat Cheung Thierry Nazzi Thierry Nazzi |
| author_sort | Silvana Poltrock |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While words are distinguished primarily by consonants and vowels in many languages, tones are also used in the majority of the world's languages to cue lexical contrasts. However, studies on novel word learning have largely concentrated on consonants and vowels. To shed more light on the use of tonal information in novel word learning and its relationship with the development of phonological categories, the present study explored how adults' ability to learn minimal pair pseudowords in a tone language is modulated by their native phonological knowledge. Twenty-four adult speakers of three languages were tested: Cantonese, Mandarin, and French. Eye-tracking was used to record eye movements of these learners, while they were watching animated cartoons in Cantonese. On each trial, adults had to learn two new label-object associations, while the labels differed minimally by a consonant, a vowel, or a tone. Learning would therefore attest to participants' ability to use phonological information to distinguish the paired words. Results first revealed that adult learners in each language group performed better than chance in all conditions. Moreover, compared to native Cantonese adults, both Mandarin- and French-speaking adults performed worse on all three contrasts. In addition, French adults were worse on tones when compared to Mandarin adults. Lastly, no advantage for consonantal information in native lexical processing was found for Cantonese-speaking adults as predicted by the “division of labor” proposal, thus confirming crosslinguistic differences in consonant/vowel weight between speakers of tonal vs. non-tonal languages. These findings establish rapid novel word learning in a non-native language (long-term learning will have to be further assessed), modulated by native phonological knowledge. The implications of the findings of this adult study for further infant word learning studies are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:57:40Z |
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| id | doaj.art-6e9ce4c666644bd4b9e276a9e7f4f4ad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:57:40Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e9ce4c666644bd4b9e276a9e7f4f4ad2022-12-22T01:38:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-07-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211320663Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and TonesSilvana Poltrock0Silvana Poltrock1Silvana Poltrock2Hui Chen3Hui Chen4Celia Kwok5Hintat Cheung6Thierry Nazzi7Thierry Nazzi8Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, FranceCNRS, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris, FranceDepartment Linguistik, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyUniversité Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, FranceCNRS, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris, FranceDepartment of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong KongDepartment of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong KongUniversité Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, FranceCNRS, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris, FranceWhile words are distinguished primarily by consonants and vowels in many languages, tones are also used in the majority of the world's languages to cue lexical contrasts. However, studies on novel word learning have largely concentrated on consonants and vowels. To shed more light on the use of tonal information in novel word learning and its relationship with the development of phonological categories, the present study explored how adults' ability to learn minimal pair pseudowords in a tone language is modulated by their native phonological knowledge. Twenty-four adult speakers of three languages were tested: Cantonese, Mandarin, and French. Eye-tracking was used to record eye movements of these learners, while they were watching animated cartoons in Cantonese. On each trial, adults had to learn two new label-object associations, while the labels differed minimally by a consonant, a vowel, or a tone. Learning would therefore attest to participants' ability to use phonological information to distinguish the paired words. Results first revealed that adult learners in each language group performed better than chance in all conditions. Moreover, compared to native Cantonese adults, both Mandarin- and French-speaking adults performed worse on all three contrasts. In addition, French adults were worse on tones when compared to Mandarin adults. Lastly, no advantage for consonantal information in native lexical processing was found for Cantonese-speaking adults as predicted by the “division of labor” proposal, thus confirming crosslinguistic differences in consonant/vowel weight between speakers of tonal vs. non-tonal languages. These findings establish rapid novel word learning in a non-native language (long-term learning will have to be further assessed), modulated by native phonological knowledge. The implications of the findings of this adult study for further infant word learning studies are discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211/fullword learningminimal pairsnon-native speech perceptiontonesadults |
| spellingShingle | Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Silvana Poltrock Hui Chen Hui Chen Celia Kwok Hintat Cheung Thierry Nazzi Thierry Nazzi Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones Frontiers in Psychology word learning minimal pairs non-native speech perception tones adults |
| title | Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones |
| title_full | Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones |
| title_fullStr | Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones |
| title_short | Adult Learning of Novel Words in a Non-native Language: Consonants, Vowels, and Tones |
| title_sort | adult learning of novel words in a non native language consonants vowels and tones |
| topic | word learning minimal pairs non-native speech perception tones adults |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211/full |
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