Analyzing Students’ Pronunciation and

Improving Tonal Teaching

Ropngrong LiaoRongrong.liao@us.army.mil

Marilyn ChakwinMarilyn.chakwin@us.army.mil

Defense Language Institute

Learners' pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese

• Learners' pronunciation is worth more research attention.

• Most noticeable characteristics: the variation of tones.

Questions about tonal variation in Students Pronunciation

1. How does a tone vary in students connected speech?

2. Are there any patterned tonal combinations? If yes, what are they?

An experimental study

• Digital sound recording• Six Mandarin learners: natural and

fluent speaking, normal paced narration.

• Two listeners: native Mandarin speakers, experienced in teaching the language

An experimental study

• Empirical analysis: - Auditory impression - Tonal type in each syllable - Tonal patterns in grouped syllables

An experimental study

• Instrumental analysis : - Output from acoustic software - Observe pitch tracks and spectrograms - Analyze F0 curves, Identify patterns

Question 1 and observation

Question 1: How does a tone vary in students connected speech?

Observation ：• Chang to one of the other Mandarin tones • Chang to other tonal forms

Question 1 and observation• T0 T1 T2 T3 T4 OTF sub total• ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• T0 10 0 1 32 0 3 46• T1 3 40 2 16 1 6 68• T2 2 5 5 11 1 8 32• T3 0 29 1 16 5 6 57• T4 1 18 2 16 19 14 70• -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Sub total 16 92 11 91 26 37• =10+6 =40+52 =5+6 16+75 =19+7

• Total 273

Question 1 and observation

• A tone may become any one of the other Mandarin tones.

• Results more Tone 1’s and T3’s, less T4’s, and few T2’s; and some “Other Tonal Forms.”

• The variation seems to be random, not consistently correlate to the four Mandarin tones.

Question 1 and observation

• Tone 1 Tone 2, Tone 3, Tone 4 ( 书 ) ( 工 , 出 , 都 ) ( 家 , 多 ,)• Tone 2 Tone 1, Tone 3, Tone 4 ( 忙 , 人 , 拿 ) ( 才 ) ( 前 , 能 , 忙 , 时 )• Tone 3 Tone 1, Tone 2, Tone 4 ( 我 , 本 , 以 , 买 ) ( 我 , 友 ) ( 我 , 几 )• Tone 4 Tone 1, Tone 2, Tone 3 ( 二 , 聚 , 卖 ) ( 做 ) ( 动 , 第 , 在 , 会 )

Question 1 and observation

• A syllable may be pronounced with different tones in different contexts. 我 : Tone 3 Tone 1, 2, 3, 4 (speaker 1).

• A syllable may always be pronounced with the correct tone. 上 : Tone 4 Tone 4 (speaker 2 ).

Question 2 and observation

Question 2: Are there any patterned tonal combinations? If yes, what are they?

Empirical analysis: • Syllables group together: - Normal pace: often 2-3 syllables a group - Faster pace: more syllables a group

Question 2 and observation

Empirical analysis:• Basic impression: - The accent is very familiar to listeners, typical of

what they heard in daily instruction. - Tonal combination patterns do exist. It is easy to

identify them, but hard to describe them alone through listening.

Question 2 and observationInstrumental analysis: • Easy to analize tonal forms through pitch tracks.• Tonal contours vary among large ranges of heights and

shapes.• Speech stream contains sequences of patterned tonal

combinations and other tonal forms.• Intonational factors affect the final form of the tonal

sequences.

Question 2 and observation

Empirical and instrumental analysis:• Identified basic tonal combinations: - Pattern 1: similar to T1+T3; - Pattern 2: similar to T3+T1 or T3+T4.• Well pronounced Mandarin carries less above tonal

patterns, heavier accented Mandarin carries more.

Question 2 and observation Instrumental analysis: 1

Time (s)0.3 30

400

那个 ( 工 作 ) 很 有 意思

Question 2 and observation Instrumental analysis: 2

Time (s)1.1 4.70

400

我 的 哦 书 店 有 特 别 活 动 的

Question 2 and observation Instrumental analysis: 3

什么 都 ( 不 会 ) 作

Time (s)2 4.9

0

400

Question 2 and observation

Instrumental analysis: 4

我 ( 第 一 ) 次 上 班

Time (s)0 2.9

0

400

Question 2 and observation Instrumental analysis: 5

Time (s)1.4 4.40

400

大 家 ( 很 忙 ), 可 ( 是 我 ) 只 能 看 看

Cause of students’ tonal patterns

• Students’ English intonation system affects their Chinese tonal pronunciation

• English: 2 tones (high, low), tonal change cross groups of syllables.

• Chinese: 4 tones (high, rising, low, falling), patterned tonal change within each syllable.

Cause of students’ tonal patterns

• Do not “remember” which syllable carries which tone in a word.

• Habitually use the English tones to pronounce Chinese tonal sequences.

Traditional way of teaching Mandarin tones

• Teach the tones in isolated syllables.• Expect learners to remember tones in all words.• Expect learners to pronounce original tones in all

syllables of a utterance.• Correct every tone in speech sequences.

Suggestions for improving tonal teaching

• Refer to research findings about Mandarin tonal system and Learners’ potentials.

• Develop new teaching strategies based on the research findings

Strategies for teaching basic tones

• Research findings:- Critical Period Hypothesis: Speech learning ability decreased at puberty - Phonologically based argument: The perceptual mechanism of mature adults has

more plasticity than was preciously recognized and can be modified

Strategies for teaching basic tones

• Productive training with perceptual training • Start with perceptual training : - Listen and identify the four Mandarin tones in a variety of phonetic contexts in natural words. - From easy to difficult Tones 1&3, Tones 3&4, Tones 1&4, Tones 1&2, Tones 2&4, Tones 2&3

Strategies for teaching basic tones

• Followed by pronunciation training - modeling - manual gesture - repetition - short exchange

Strategies for teaching tonal sequences

• Research findings: - Stress pattern in a group of syllables controls tonal behavior.

- Strong stresses make tones keep their features and maintain their basic forms

- Weak stresses make tones lose their features and change their basic forms.

Suggestions for teaching tonal sequences

• Train students to adjust stress pattern when pronounce a group of syllables. Examples:- Don’t pronounce the second syllable stronger than the first syllable in a word. - Pronounce particles and many function words with weaker stress.

Suggestions for teaching tonal sequences

• Pay more attention on teaching and correcting tonal pronunciation in syllables with strong stress.

• Do not expect learners to pronounce the basic tones one by one in a tonal sequence.

• Focus on the naturalness of whole tonal sequences. • Help students to reduce the two accented tonal

patterns, and produce more correct tonal forms.

Strategies for teaching tonal sequences

• To increase percentage of correctness of tonal pronunciation, Select a list of highly frequently used words. - Example: 的、一、了、我、是、

在、不、们、人、有 .• Create activities for students to practice the pronunciation of

the words.• Ensure correct tonal pronunciation of these words whenever

learners pronounce them.

Reference

Liao, Rongrong. 2005. Underline information and rules of Chinese intonation. Languag Pragmatic and Innovation, Academic Series to Celebrate the

80th Birthday of Professor Hu Mingyan. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Beijing, China. 137-156.

Wu, Zong-ji. 1990. Basic patterns of intonation in Standard Chinese. Academic Series to Honour the Memory of Professor Wang Li. Commercial Press,

Beijing, China. Wang, Y., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2003a). Acoustic and perceptual

evaluation of Mandarin tone productions before and after perceptual training. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 113, 1033-1044.

Thank you!Questions?