Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations
This study investigates the hypothesis that tone alternation directionality becomes a basis of structural bias for tone alternation learning, where “structural bias” refers to a tendency to prefer uni-directional tone deletions to bi-directional ones. Two experiments were conducted. In the first, Ma...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705766/full |
| _version_ | 1818652091318534144 |
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| author | Tingyu Huang Youngah Do |
| author_facet | Tingyu Huang Youngah Do |
| author_sort | Tingyu Huang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigates the hypothesis that tone alternation directionality becomes a basis of structural bias for tone alternation learning, where “structural bias” refers to a tendency to prefer uni-directional tone deletions to bi-directional ones. Two experiments were conducted. In the first, Mandarin speakers learned three artificial languages, with bi-directional tone deletions, uni-directional, left-dominant deletions, and uni-directional, right-dominant deletions, respectively. The results showed a learning bias toward uni-directional, right-dominant patterns. As Mandarin tone sandhi is right-dominant while Cantonese tone change is lexically restricted and does not have directionality asymmetry, a follow-up experiment trained Cantonese speakers either on left- or right-dominant deletions to see whether the right-dominant preference was due to L1 transfer from Mandarin. The results of the experiment also showed a learning bias toward right-dominant patterns. We argue that structural simplicity affects tone deletion learning but the simplicity should be grounded on phonetics factors, such as syllables’ contour-tone bearing ability. The experimental results are consistent with the findings of a survey on other types of tone alternation’s directionality, i.e., tone sandhi across 17 Chinese varieties. This suggests that the directionality asymmetry found across different tone alternations reflects a phonetically grounded structural learning bias. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T02:16:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7a9f689526b84dea9758c80a8fb6cc2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T02:16:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7a9f689526b84dea9758c80a8fb6cc2d2022-12-21T22:07:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-07-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.705766705766Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal AlternationsTingyu HuangYoungah DoThis study investigates the hypothesis that tone alternation directionality becomes a basis of structural bias for tone alternation learning, where “structural bias” refers to a tendency to prefer uni-directional tone deletions to bi-directional ones. Two experiments were conducted. In the first, Mandarin speakers learned three artificial languages, with bi-directional tone deletions, uni-directional, left-dominant deletions, and uni-directional, right-dominant deletions, respectively. The results showed a learning bias toward uni-directional, right-dominant patterns. As Mandarin tone sandhi is right-dominant while Cantonese tone change is lexically restricted and does not have directionality asymmetry, a follow-up experiment trained Cantonese speakers either on left- or right-dominant deletions to see whether the right-dominant preference was due to L1 transfer from Mandarin. The results of the experiment also showed a learning bias toward right-dominant patterns. We argue that structural simplicity affects tone deletion learning but the simplicity should be grounded on phonetics factors, such as syllables’ contour-tone bearing ability. The experimental results are consistent with the findings of a survey on other types of tone alternation’s directionality, i.e., tone sandhi across 17 Chinese varieties. This suggests that the directionality asymmetry found across different tone alternations reflects a phonetically grounded structural learning bias.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705766/fulllearning biassimplicityphonetic naturalnessartificial grammar learningtone alternation |
| spellingShingle | Tingyu Huang Youngah Do Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations Frontiers in Psychology learning bias simplicity phonetic naturalness artificial grammar learning tone alternation |
| title | Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations |
| title_full | Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations |
| title_fullStr | Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations |
| title_short | Phonetically Grounded Structural Bias in Learning Tonal Alternations |
| title_sort | phonetically grounded structural bias in learning tonal alternations |
| topic | learning bias simplicity phonetic naturalness artificial grammar learning tone alternation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705766/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tingyuhuang phoneticallygroundedstructuralbiasinlearningtonalalternations AT youngahdo phoneticallygroundedstructuralbiasinlearningtonalalternations |