HORI, Toshitaka et LAMEK, Alexis et OHKI, Mitsuru et GOULLIER, Francis et TANAKA, Shinya et HOSOK... more HORI, Toshitaka et LAMEK, Alexis et OHKI, Mitsuru et GOULLIER, Francis et TANAKA, Shinya et HOSOKAWA, Hideo et FU, Rong et VRHOVAC, Yvonne et ETHIER, Suzanne et TACHIBANA, Hidehiro et CHANG, Nina et OSTHEIDER, Teja et BESSE, Henri et ...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2013
Mandarin differentiates four tones (T1: high level (ā), T2: high rising (á), T3: dipping (ǎ), T4:... more Mandarin differentiates four tones (T1: high level (ā), T2: high rising (á), T3: dipping (ǎ), T4: high falling (à)). Learning these lexical tones is known to be difficult for those from non-tonal language background (e.g., English). What about listeners with no knowledge of Mandarin but have varying experience with tones or pitch variation? This study examined the discrimination of 6 Mandarin tone contrasts (T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, T2-T3, T2-T4, and T3-T4) by native speakers of Japanese (pitch-accent language) and Thai (tonal language). The listeners’ tone discrimination accuracy was assessed in a categorical discrimination test developed by Jim Flege and colleagues. Both non-native groups were less accurate than the native group, in particular, for the T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, and T2-T3 contrasts. Despite using lexical tones in their first language (L1), Thai listeners did not have a distinct advantage over Japanese listeners and the two groups showed a similar pattern of results. Overall...
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Apr 1, 2012
A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones is a... more A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones is available for public through the internet (http://chinesetone.org) in Japanese, English, and Chinese versions. The design and construction of this system has been reported previously (Hiki et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 120 (5, Pt. 2), 2006, 3168). This system utilizes the displays of the pitch pattern as visual cues in training. The following new functions of the visual displays have been added to the system recently: 1) Essential pitch patterns of 15 bisyllabic words, with every combination of the four tones in Standard Chinese, were drawn on the six whole tone musical scale. By displaying visually the corresponding essential pitch pattern along with the measured pitch pattern, it became easier for the beginners to perceive aurally the tonal characters, which underlay the measured pitch patterns; 2) The bisyllabic word lists comprising only voiced consonants were edited, and the measured pitch patterns not interrupted by unvoiced consonants were displayed visually. These speech samples were useful in the early stages of tone discrimination learning. It was also ascertained that the tone discrimination was stimulated by paying attention to musical pitch perception.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Nov 1, 2006
A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones was ... more A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones was developed, and provided through the internet to Japanese college students of Chinese language class. The data of acoustical analysis and perceptual judgment on the Chinese tones played an important role in designing the system. The result of observation on characteristic errors in discriminating Chinese tones by the Japanese students was also utilized. This system offered three kinds of use for self-teaching: testing, training, and reviewing. The original word lists consisted of 15 bisyllabic words with every combination of the four tones of Standard Chinese, involving different rates of unvoiced consonants, which disturbed the tone discrimination. In the partial word lists, only words having tone 2 and/or tone 3, which were difficult for the beginners, were excerpted from the original lists. Their speech samples with both female and male voices were accommodated. Temporal changes in fundamental frequency were extracted from the speech samples and displayed as visual cues in the training. It was also possible in the training to present only the words answered incorrectly in the preceding testing. By selecting suitable uses and word lists with the progress of self-teaching, the required time for achieving the goal was reduced.
ABSTRACT The focus of this research is on an international distance discussion class carried out ... more ABSTRACT The focus of this research is on an international distance discussion class carried out in Chinese between university students in Japan, China and Taiwan using videoconferencing. Smiling was used as an interactional index in an analysis of the archival footage of the recordings of the discussion between native speakers (NS) of Chinese and non-native speakers (NNS). Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, it was possible to identify how the NSs and NNSs participated in the discussion. We analyzed a 70-minute video and the textual materials of a discussion class among 13 students from different countries. Findings revealed that interactions between NS and NNS students gave rise to more smiling and laughter compared to interactions between NS students. Findings also revealed that NNS students are better at creating affinity with other participants, since their laughter events could reflect differences in cultures and in human relationships though these jokes were less novel and less funny than those of NS students. Compared with more traditional class formats, the distance class is better at helping students develop their social, intercultural and problem-solving abilities. However, NS students are more likely to take the initiative in discussions due to their language ability, while the NNS students are less able to express their opinions freely. This research tells us that even though NNS students have disadvantages in terms of their linguistic resources, they make use of both verbal and non-verbal resources to interact with other speakers. Based on our analysis, suggestions for international distance foreign language teaching and research are given.
本稿は日本の平安朝古記録に現れる疑問文のうち、漢語の口語要素を反映すると思われる文型と語彙を電算機のデータベース機能を用いて抽出し、古記録文中に中国近代漢語の一痕跡を探索せんと試みるものである。... more 本稿は日本の平安朝古記録に現れる疑問文のうち、漢語の口語要素を反映すると思われる文型と語彙を電算機のデータベース機能を用いて抽出し、古記録文中に中国近代漢語の一痕跡を探索せんと試みるものである。日本国語学の漢文訓読・訓点学の学術成果と伝統を未消化の内に、拙稿をしたためることの非難は覚悟ながら、中国語史の視点で日本漢文資料を調査した結果を提示したい。古記録文は西暦9世紀後半から10世紀にかけ、男性平安貴族によって記された勤務日記、儀典心得の類を指す。時は唐風文化の最盛期で、貴族たちはこぞって漢文体による文筆活動を行った。彼らの基礎教養は純漢文であるが、古記録は私家文書の性格を有し、中国漢文を模しつつ日本語文法と訓読漢語語彙が融合した文体で綴られた。日本国語学では、この種の文体を純漢文に対して変体漢文と称すこともある。国内の研究は当然ながら、日本語史からみた研究が主で、漢語口語層に焦点をあてた先行論著は管見する限り見あたらない。従来国語学では、漢語の口語の範囲を、俗語や方言などに狭く限定して捕えがちであるが、口語は日常の漢語にも常見するのであり、事実平安古記録文にも口語漢語の影響を発見できる。さてふりかえって、中国語学界をみると近年中国語史の研究が盛んになり、魏晋南北朝より唐、五代を頂点とする近代漢語の研究が活況を呈している。これは唐代原資料である膨大な敦煌文献の発見と、その整理解読作業の進展が大きな推進力となっている。日本でも、この唐代口語解明につき動かされるように、日本漢字資料中の漢語口語語彙研究が進み、『万葉集』『古事記』『日本書紀』中の中国語口語語彙が検証されつつある。拙稿は日本平安期における漢語口語資料を \u27口語疑問文\u27 という角度から個別検証したものである。古記録文中の口語疑問句に焦点をあてた理由は次の2点にある。第一に近代漢語史において、唐代は新出の疑問文型ならびに語彙が際立った時期であること。第二に疑問句表現形式は、中国語と日本語で大いに異なるため、古記録文の漢語の影響を観察するのに有効な指標となりえるはずである。論題を唐代口語としたが、六朝期や晩唐後の五代を排除するものではない。六朝に芽生え、五代に至って成熟期を迎える中国近代漢語研究の確実な原資料は、質量とも敦煌資料の右にでるものは、現在まで見あたらない。従って口語研究は唐代をもって...
Statistical properties of the Chinese four tones were analyzed with regard to their occurrence fr... more Statistical properties of the Chinese four tones were analyzed with regard to their occurrence frequency and transition probability. The database used for the analysis was the Grammatical Knowledge-base of Contemporary Chinese (S-W. Yu, editor, Tsinghua University Press, China, 1988). Tone symbols of the four tones of Standard Chinese were furnished to each of the syllables in one, two, three and four syllable words, about 55,000 words in total. The occurrence frequency of the four tones deviated from 25%, depending on number of syllables in a word or position of the syllable in the word. In the case of nouns, which occupied about 30% of the words in this database, Tone-2 was always 25% but Tone-3 was 5% to 10% less. Tone-1 became less than 25% in the latter position of syllables. Tone-4 was 5% more even in the first syllables and became as large as 40% in the last syllables. The deviations were much larger in some of the other parts of speech. The entropy of the tones, which is 2 b...
Based on the statistical properties of occurrence frequency and transition probability of the Chi... more Based on the statistical properties of occurrence frequency and transition probability of the Chinese four tones and the acoustical characteristics of their phonatory control and perceptual response, a Computer-Assisted Instruction system for teaching tonal discrimination to beginners was designed, with special regard to the contrast between Tone-2 and Tone-3. In order to emphasize the difference from the Japanese word accent, intermediate tonal stimulus with synthetic speech and visual display of change in voice pitch were utilized in practicing perception, and the efficiency was improved by introducing the CAI algorithm. In practicing phonation, the target voice pitch patterns were adapted to the talker's voice register which is derived from measurement of fundamental frequency in speaking, and indicated on the screen. The possibility of transferring the system to a self-learning program through the internet was also discussed.
HORI, Toshitaka et LAMEK, Alexis et OHKI, Mitsuru et GOULLIER, Francis et TANAKA, Shinya et HOSOK... more HORI, Toshitaka et LAMEK, Alexis et OHKI, Mitsuru et GOULLIER, Francis et TANAKA, Shinya et HOSOKAWA, Hideo et FU, Rong et VRHOVAC, Yvonne et ETHIER, Suzanne et TACHIBANA, Hidehiro et CHANG, Nina et OSTHEIDER, Teja et BESSE, Henri et ...
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2013
Mandarin differentiates four tones (T1: high level (ā), T2: high rising (á), T3: dipping (ǎ), T4:... more Mandarin differentiates four tones (T1: high level (ā), T2: high rising (á), T3: dipping (ǎ), T4: high falling (à)). Learning these lexical tones is known to be difficult for those from non-tonal language background (e.g., English). What about listeners with no knowledge of Mandarin but have varying experience with tones or pitch variation? This study examined the discrimination of 6 Mandarin tone contrasts (T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, T2-T3, T2-T4, and T3-T4) by native speakers of Japanese (pitch-accent language) and Thai (tonal language). The listeners’ tone discrimination accuracy was assessed in a categorical discrimination test developed by Jim Flege and colleagues. Both non-native groups were less accurate than the native group, in particular, for the T1-T2, T1-T3, T1-T4, and T2-T3 contrasts. Despite using lexical tones in their first language (L1), Thai listeners did not have a distinct advantage over Japanese listeners and the two groups showed a similar pattern of results. Overall...
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Apr 1, 2012
A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones is a... more A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones is available for public through the internet (http://chinesetone.org) in Japanese, English, and Chinese versions. The design and construction of this system has been reported previously (Hiki et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 120 (5, Pt. 2), 2006, 3168). This system utilizes the displays of the pitch pattern as visual cues in training. The following new functions of the visual displays have been added to the system recently: 1) Essential pitch patterns of 15 bisyllabic words, with every combination of the four tones in Standard Chinese, were drawn on the six whole tone musical scale. By displaying visually the corresponding essential pitch pattern along with the measured pitch pattern, it became easier for the beginners to perceive aurally the tonal characters, which underlay the measured pitch patterns; 2) The bisyllabic word lists comprising only voiced consonants were edited, and the measured pitch patterns not interrupted by unvoiced consonants were displayed visually. These speech samples were useful in the early stages of tone discrimination learning. It was also ascertained that the tone discrimination was stimulated by paying attention to musical pitch perception.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Nov 1, 2006
A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones was ... more A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system for self-teaching to discriminate Chinese tones was developed, and provided through the internet to Japanese college students of Chinese language class. The data of acoustical analysis and perceptual judgment on the Chinese tones played an important role in designing the system. The result of observation on characteristic errors in discriminating Chinese tones by the Japanese students was also utilized. This system offered three kinds of use for self-teaching: testing, training, and reviewing. The original word lists consisted of 15 bisyllabic words with every combination of the four tones of Standard Chinese, involving different rates of unvoiced consonants, which disturbed the tone discrimination. In the partial word lists, only words having tone 2 and/or tone 3, which were difficult for the beginners, were excerpted from the original lists. Their speech samples with both female and male voices were accommodated. Temporal changes in fundamental frequency were extracted from the speech samples and displayed as visual cues in the training. It was also possible in the training to present only the words answered incorrectly in the preceding testing. By selecting suitable uses and word lists with the progress of self-teaching, the required time for achieving the goal was reduced.
ABSTRACT The focus of this research is on an international distance discussion class carried out ... more ABSTRACT The focus of this research is on an international distance discussion class carried out in Chinese between university students in Japan, China and Taiwan using videoconferencing. Smiling was used as an interactional index in an analysis of the archival footage of the recordings of the discussion between native speakers (NS) of Chinese and non-native speakers (NNS). Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, it was possible to identify how the NSs and NNSs participated in the discussion. We analyzed a 70-minute video and the textual materials of a discussion class among 13 students from different countries. Findings revealed that interactions between NS and NNS students gave rise to more smiling and laughter compared to interactions between NS students. Findings also revealed that NNS students are better at creating affinity with other participants, since their laughter events could reflect differences in cultures and in human relationships though these jokes were less novel and less funny than those of NS students. Compared with more traditional class formats, the distance class is better at helping students develop their social, intercultural and problem-solving abilities. However, NS students are more likely to take the initiative in discussions due to their language ability, while the NNS students are less able to express their opinions freely. This research tells us that even though NNS students have disadvantages in terms of their linguistic resources, they make use of both verbal and non-verbal resources to interact with other speakers. Based on our analysis, suggestions for international distance foreign language teaching and research are given.
本稿は日本の平安朝古記録に現れる疑問文のうち、漢語の口語要素を反映すると思われる文型と語彙を電算機のデータベース機能を用いて抽出し、古記録文中に中国近代漢語の一痕跡を探索せんと試みるものである。... more 本稿は日本の平安朝古記録に現れる疑問文のうち、漢語の口語要素を反映すると思われる文型と語彙を電算機のデータベース機能を用いて抽出し、古記録文中に中国近代漢語の一痕跡を探索せんと試みるものである。日本国語学の漢文訓読・訓点学の学術成果と伝統を未消化の内に、拙稿をしたためることの非難は覚悟ながら、中国語史の視点で日本漢文資料を調査した結果を提示したい。古記録文は西暦9世紀後半から10世紀にかけ、男性平安貴族によって記された勤務日記、儀典心得の類を指す。時は唐風文化の最盛期で、貴族たちはこぞって漢文体による文筆活動を行った。彼らの基礎教養は純漢文であるが、古記録は私家文書の性格を有し、中国漢文を模しつつ日本語文法と訓読漢語語彙が融合した文体で綴られた。日本国語学では、この種の文体を純漢文に対して変体漢文と称すこともある。国内の研究は当然ながら、日本語史からみた研究が主で、漢語口語層に焦点をあてた先行論著は管見する限り見あたらない。従来国語学では、漢語の口語の範囲を、俗語や方言などに狭く限定して捕えがちであるが、口語は日常の漢語にも常見するのであり、事実平安古記録文にも口語漢語の影響を発見できる。さてふりかえって、中国語学界をみると近年中国語史の研究が盛んになり、魏晋南北朝より唐、五代を頂点とする近代漢語の研究が活況を呈している。これは唐代原資料である膨大な敦煌文献の発見と、その整理解読作業の進展が大きな推進力となっている。日本でも、この唐代口語解明につき動かされるように、日本漢字資料中の漢語口語語彙研究が進み、『万葉集』『古事記』『日本書紀』中の中国語口語語彙が検証されつつある。拙稿は日本平安期における漢語口語資料を \u27口語疑問文\u27 という角度から個別検証したものである。古記録文中の口語疑問句に焦点をあてた理由は次の2点にある。第一に近代漢語史において、唐代は新出の疑問文型ならびに語彙が際立った時期であること。第二に疑問句表現形式は、中国語と日本語で大いに異なるため、古記録文の漢語の影響を観察するのに有効な指標となりえるはずである。論題を唐代口語としたが、六朝期や晩唐後の五代を排除するものではない。六朝に芽生え、五代に至って成熟期を迎える中国近代漢語研究の確実な原資料は、質量とも敦煌資料の右にでるものは、現在まで見あたらない。従って口語研究は唐代をもって...
Statistical properties of the Chinese four tones were analyzed with regard to their occurrence fr... more Statistical properties of the Chinese four tones were analyzed with regard to their occurrence frequency and transition probability. The database used for the analysis was the Grammatical Knowledge-base of Contemporary Chinese (S-W. Yu, editor, Tsinghua University Press, China, 1988). Tone symbols of the four tones of Standard Chinese were furnished to each of the syllables in one, two, three and four syllable words, about 55,000 words in total. The occurrence frequency of the four tones deviated from 25%, depending on number of syllables in a word or position of the syllable in the word. In the case of nouns, which occupied about 30% of the words in this database, Tone-2 was always 25% but Tone-3 was 5% to 10% less. Tone-1 became less than 25% in the latter position of syllables. Tone-4 was 5% more even in the first syllables and became as large as 40% in the last syllables. The deviations were much larger in some of the other parts of speech. The entropy of the tones, which is 2 b...
Based on the statistical properties of occurrence frequency and transition probability of the Chi... more Based on the statistical properties of occurrence frequency and transition probability of the Chinese four tones and the acoustical characteristics of their phonatory control and perceptual response, a Computer-Assisted Instruction system for teaching tonal discrimination to beginners was designed, with special regard to the contrast between Tone-2 and Tone-3. In order to emphasize the difference from the Japanese word accent, intermediate tonal stimulus with synthetic speech and visual display of change in voice pitch were utilized in practicing perception, and the efficiency was improved by introducing the CAI algorithm. In practicing phonation, the target voice pitch patterns were adapted to the talker's voice register which is derived from measurement of fundamental frequency in speaking, and indicated on the screen. The possibility of transferring the system to a self-learning program through the internet was also discussed.
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