- 期刊
Perception of Articulatorily Different Mandarin Retroflexes by Japanese Speakers: A Pilot Study
日語母語人士對構音方式不同的中文捲舌音的感知－初步研究
摘要
本研究旨在探討兩種華語捲舌音構音方式，在非母語人士區分華語齒齦音（alveolar）與捲舌音（retroflex）時，是否造成聽辨上的差異。比較前人研究與華語教材，文獻回顧顯示了捲舌音可藉由「捲舌」或「拱舌」發出，而這兩種構音方式對非母語人士聽覺的影響仍不明確。根據Best（1995）提出的Perceptual Assimilation Model（PAM），若其母語區分齒齦音與齒齦後音（post-alveolar），則非母語人士能夠區別華語齒齦音與捲舌音，不論捲舌音構音方式為何。為測試此預測，本研究採用識別實驗，以十二名母語為日語的中文學習者為受試者，要求其指出聽見的音檔為齒齦音或捲舌音。結果顯示，兩種構音方式在幫助受試者區辨齒齦音與捲舌音時一樣有效。此結果有兩項意涵：一、「捲舌」與「拱舌」這種發音方式的差異對華語學習者的聽辨並不重要；二、儘管如此，究竟何種構音方式對學習者較容易是個值得進一步研究的問題。
並列摘要
This study investigates the effects of two articulations of Mandarin retroflexes on non-native speakers' perception of Mandarin alveolar-retroflex contrasts. A literature review reveals that Mandarin retroflexes can be articulated by ＂curling＂ and ＂bunching＂ up the tongue. However, a question that remains is how these two articulatory gestures are perceived by non-native speakers to distinguish the retroflexes from non-retroflex alveolars. Under the framework of Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) introduced by Best (1995), if there are alveolar vs. post-alveolar sound contrasts in the first languages (e.g., Japanese), the non-native speakers are expected to be able to distinguish retroflexes from alveolars. But which gesture helps the distinction more is not precisely predicted by the model. To examine the above interest, twelve Japanese speakers participated in an identification test, in which they were asked to indicate whether a displayed sound was a retroflex or alveolar. The results suggest that both gestures worked equally well for the participants to distinguish the retorflexes from alveolars. The implication of this study is twofold. First, the gestural differences are not essential to the learners' listening ability. Second, despite no difference in terms of perception, another question as to which gesture is easier for non-native speakers to articulate merits further investigation.