Perception of falling and rising pitch contour contrast: Effects of first language background.

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the ability to discriminate falling and rising pitch contour contrasts among native speakers of a tonal language (Chinese) and native speakers of a nontonal language (English). Linearly falling and rising pitch contours on [ba:] syllables are presented to participants in (1) the “same different categorial” discrimination task and (2) an “oddball” detection task. Preliminary results obtained from 10 Chinese and 12 English speakers suggested that (a) native Chinese speakers found the falling contour to be easier to discriminate than the rising contour, while the ability to discriminate between the two pitch contours was comparable among the English speakers, (b) reaction time for the falling contour false alarms was longer than for the rising contour among the English speakers, (c) no difference in either “detection” rate or “reaction” time between the two contours was found among both groups of speakers. More data will be collected from both groups of speakers and from speakers of another tonal language. Language general as well as language specific factors will be considered to account for the patterns of results obtained.