The Effect of Tone Duration on Chinese Word Recognition

Abstract

Abstract: This study examined the effect of tone duration on Chinese word recognition. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, we explored the duration of the four tones in Chinese by using acoustic analysis. The results showed that the duration of tone 3 was the longest, the duration of tone 4 was the shortest, but no significant difference between tone 1 and tone 2 was found. In Experiment 2, part-of-speech decision tasks were employed. We examined the effect of tone duration on word recognition. The results showed that the reaction time of tone 3 was longer than tone 4 under the condition of low frequency words. This conclusion supports the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis.

Key words: word recognition, tone, duration, implicit prosody

摘要： 通过两个实验探讨声调时长在汉语词汇识别中的作用。实验1从声学角度探讨了汉语四个声调的时长差异。研究发现，汉语四个声调中，上声调长最长，去声调长最短，阴平和阳平调长无差异。实验2采用词性判断任务，考察汉语上声调长和去声调长在词汇识别中的时长差异。研究发现，低频词条件下，上声词的反应时长于去声词的反应时。研究结论支持内隐韵律假说。

关键词: 词汇识别, 声调, 时长, 内隐韵律

CLC Number:

B842.5

YU Miao, DING Tongfei. The Effect of Tone Duration on Chinese Word Recognition[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2019, 17(1): 24-30.

于秒, 丁潼飞. 汉语词汇识别的声调时长效应[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2019, 17(1): 24-30.

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