The processing of non-native word prosodic cues: A cross-linguistic study

On 7 January Shuangshuang Hu (Language acquisition, processing and disorders) will defend her PhD-dissertation The processing of non-native word prosodic cues: A cross-linguistic study online. 

The dissertation investigated the role of native word prosody in the cross-linguistic processing of non-native word prosodic cues at three processing levels: the auditory-acoustic level, the phonological level which taps into abstract representations, and the lexical level where phonological knowledge is encoded to integrate sound-to-meaning associations in word learning. Mandarin, Japanese, and Dutch listeners are selected since these three languages not only differ in their use of word prosodic cues but also share commonalities. 

Word prosodic cues

The findings show that at the acoustic level, both the acoustic features and the native word prosody influenced the perception of non-native word prosodic cues. At the phonological level and the lexical level, the use of lexical pitch in the native word prosody played a pivotal role in the encoding of non-native word prosodic cues. Position was observed to play different roles in interacting with the processing of non-native pitch contrasts at the three different processing levels. Intonation was found, to some extent, also influence the processing of non-native word prosodic cues at the three levels. Moreover, language-specific and language-general patterns were observed in the processing of non-native word prosodic cues at the three processing levels.