Wong, Ying Wai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-60). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgement --- p.i / Abstract --- p.iii / 摘要 --- p.iv / Contents --- p.v / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Tones in Continuous Speech --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Production of tones --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Perception of tones --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Tone Production --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1 --- Tones in isolation - Experiment 1 --- p.9 / Introduction --- p.10 / Material --- p.10 / Recording and F0 extraction --- p.10 / Results and discussion --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- Tones in context - Experiment 2 --- p.13 / Introduction --- p.14 / Material --- p.15 / Recording and F0 extraction --- p.16 / Results - Anticipatory effect --- p.17 / Results - Carryover effect --- p.18 / Results - Pitch target computation --- p.20 / Results - Magnitude of variation --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3 --- Discussion --- p.22 / Relative magnitude of contextual variations --- p.23 / Cantonese T4 in context --- p.24 / Further generalizations --- p.25 / Chapter 3.4 --- Summary of findings --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Tone Perception --- p.28 / Chapter 4.1 --- Temporal distribution of tonal information - Expt. 3 and 4 --- p.29 / Experiment 3 - Stimulus recording --- p.29 / Experiment 3 - Stimulus preparation --- p.31 / Experiment 3 - Procedure --- p.31 / Experiment 3 - Results --- p.32 / Experiment 4 - Stimulus preparation --- p.33 / Experiment 4 - Procedure --- p.34 / Experiment 4 - Results --- p.34 / Chapter 4.2 --- Effect of intensity 一 Experiment 5 --- p.36 / Stimulus preparation --- p.37 / Procedure --- p.38 / Results - Tone identification responses --- p.38 / Results - Effect of intensity --- p.40 / Chapter 4.3 --- Contour tone perception - Experiment 6 --- p.43 / Stimulus preparation --- p.43 / Procedure --- p.44 / Results --- p.44 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary of findings --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Conclusions and Discussion --- p.47 / Chapter 5.1 --- Tone Production --- p.47 / Typology of tone rules --- p.48 / Acquisition of tone production --- p.49 / Chapter 5.2 --- Tone Perception --- p.50 / Evidence from Speech Production Phenomena --- p.50 / Role of the first half --- p.52 / Acquisition of tone perception --- p.53 / Bibliography --- p.56

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Tone matching, judgment and segmental judgment tasks conducted in silent reading and listening conditions are devised to test the hypothesis that musical training improves tone and segmental (onset, rime) perception in a tone language, Cantonese, in native Cantonese-speaking individuals. Four-word sequences (in which two words are primes and two are targets, or three words are primes and one is target) were presented to three groups of participants: professional musicians, amateur musicians and non-musicians in the silent reading condition, whereas four sound stimuli of Chinese characters were presented in the listening condition, and their accuracy and response time were recorded. Musicians, both professional and amateur, performed significantly better in tone and segmental perception than their musically naïve counterparts. Moreover, the response time exhibited a contrastive pattern in the two conditions: musicians tended to respond faster in the silent reading condition, but took a longer time in the listening condition. These results clearly demonstrate that musical training facilitated the perceptual processing of Cantonese tone and segmental phonemes by native Cantonese- speakers. Music-to-language transfer effects are highlighted and the non-significant differences exhibited between professional musicians and amateur musicians in five out of six tasks show that musical training need not be pursued to an advanced level for participants to gain perceptual benefits. The results shed light on possible forms of remedial programme development and interventions for children with language disorders such as dyslexia. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / toc / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Lei, Ka Yan Margaret. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-94). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgments --- p.i / Abstract --- p.iv / 摘要 --- p.vi / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- BACKGROUND --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Infants' perception of speech contrasts --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Discrimination of segmental contrasts --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Discrimination of suprasegmental contrasts --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Cantonese tonal system --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Properties and classification of the Cantonese tones --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Distributional pattern of the Cantonese tones --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3 --- Tone perception in Cantonese-speaking adults and children --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Tone perception in Cantonese-speaking adults --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Tone perception in Cantonese-speaking children --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Discussion --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Tone acquisition --- p.32 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- METHODOLOGY --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1 --- Operant conditioning --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Background of the paradigm --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3 --- Subjects --- p.38 / Chapter 3.4 --- Stimuli used in the experiments --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Auditory stimuli --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Visual stimuli --- p.41 / Chapter 3.5 --- Experimental site --- p.43 / Chapter 3.6 --- Procedure --- p.46 / Chapter 3.7 --- Technical control of experiment --- p.49 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- RESULTS OF THE STUDY --- p.52 / Chapter 4.1 --- Details of experiment --- p.52 / Chapter 4.2 --- Assessment criteria --- p.55 / Chapter 4.3 --- Results --- p.58 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Discrimination performance of Group I subjects --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Discrimination performance of Group II subjects --- p.68 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Discrimination performance of Group III subjects --- p.72 / Chapter 4.4 --- Comparison with previous studies --- p.72 / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.73 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS --- p.74 / Chapter 5.1 --- Strengths of the VRISD paradigm --- p.74 / Chapter 5.2 --- The use of operant conditioning --- p.76 / Chapter 5.3 --- Relative nature of tone --- p.77 / Chapter 5.4 --- Acoustic similarity between the tones --- p.78 / Chapter 5.5 --- Interplay between production and perception --- p.79 / Chapter 5.6 --- Association between tone perception and tone acquisition --- p.81 / Chapter 5.7 --- Tonal versus segmental discrimination --- p.82 / Chapter 5.8 --- Tone perception in connected speech --- p.84 / Chapter 5.9 --- Gender identification --- p.85 / Chapter 5.10 --- Conclusions --- p.86 / Bibliography --- p.88

前人發現非母語者对言語的感知主要受其母語和聲學因素的影響。但是多數研究集中在音段(segment)方面，鮮有研究關注這些因素如何影響超音段(supra-segment)的感知。母語中的聲調可能使有聲調的語言使用者比無聲調的語言使用者在聲調感知中有更好的發揮，兩組無聲調的語言使用者在各自母語的影響下，對聲調感知的表現也未必一致。本文旨在探索母語和聲學因素如何影響非母語者對廣東話聲調的感知。三組非母語者參加了我們的實驗。普通話組是有聲調的語言使用者, 英語組和法語組是無聲調的語言使用者。實驗一採用AX辨別範式 (AX discrimination) ，實驗材料包括廣東話言語聲調(speech tones)和非言語聲調 (non-speech tones)。實驗結果顯示，被試在聽辨言語聲調和非言語聲調時有不同的表現。在聽辨言語聲調時，一方面三組被試受聲調間的聲學距離影響在某些聲調組有相似表現，但另一方面普通話組在母語聲調的影響下，在總體上和某些聲調組中都比英語和法語組有更好的表現。相反，在聽辨非言語聲調時，三組被試的表現並無明顯的差異。實驗二採用相似度評判範式 (dissimilarity rating)，實驗材料為廣東話言語聲調。實驗結果顯示，被試在母語的影響下，側重不同的感知特徵 (perceptual cues)。普通話組對聲調的調形 (pitch direction) 比較敏感。英語和法語組都只對聲調音高的高低變化 (pitch height)敏感，但此兩組非母語者的感知特徵並不完全相同。綜觀以上所得，我們發現普通話組在母語聲調的幫助下有最好的表現，而英語和法語組因為母語中並無聲調，所以在辨別聲調時表現類似，但評判聲調相似度時則受母語的影響而關注不同的感知特徵。另外，本文在現行的理論模型的框架下討論了我們的實驗結果，並基於此對相關模型作出評價。最後，我們提出母語和聲學因素共同影響非母語者的聲調感知，兩項涉及影響聲調感知的要素應當受到現行理論模型的重視。 / The influences of first language (L1) experience and psychoacoustic factors are well-attested in the perception of non-native segments, but such influence on the perception of non-native tones is still unclear. While the presence of lexical tones in L1 could cause differences in the perception of tones between speakers of tone languages and of non-tone languages, language-specific use of pitch may differentiate speakers of non-tone languages as well. This study conducted two experiments to investigate how L1 experience and psychoacoustic factors affect speakers of tone language (Mandarin) and two non-tone languages (English and French) in the perception of Cantonese tones. In Experiment 1, three groups of subjects with no Cantonese knowledge, native speakers of Mandarin, English and French, participated in an AX discrimination task of speech and non-speech tones in Cantonese. Results showed that the subjects performed differently in the speech and non-speech tasks. In the speech task, while the three L1 groups shared some confusable tone pairs due to acoustic similarity of the tonal stimuli, the Mandarin group had a better performance than the English and French groups and differed from them in specific pairs under the influence of L1 experience. In the non-speech task, however, the three L1 groups did not have significant differences. In Experiment 2, the same subjects participated in a dissimilarity rating task of speech tones. Results indicated that the three L1 groups assigned weight to different dimensions of tones because of the language-specific use of pitch in their L1. While the Mandarin speakers were more sensitive to pitch direction than pitch height, the English and French speakers were similar in only attending to pitch height. Nevertheless, they also differed in terms of the perceptual cues they used. The English speakers attended to the beginning and ending pitch height whereas the French speakers were sensitive to the overall pitch height. In summary, L1 experience with native tones facilitated the Mandarin speakers’ perception of non-native Cantonese tones. The English and French speakers had no difference in discriminating non-native tones due to the lack of lexical tones in their L1, although they were sensitive to different perceptual cues. The findings are discussed with respect to current models of non-native perception, the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the Attention to Dimension (A2D) model. Our findings suggest that L1 experience and psychoacoustic similarity of stimuli jointly influence the perception of non-native tones and both factors should be incorporated into the models of speech perception. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Qin, Zhen. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-93). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in also Chinese; appendix A in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.III / 摘要 --- p.IV / Acknowledgements --- p.V / Table of Content --- p.VI / List of Figures --- p.IX / List of Tables --- p.X / Chapter CHPATER 1 --- GENERAL INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Factors in perception of non-native tones --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Our aim --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Our solution --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Organization --- p.4 / Chapter CHPATER 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- Modeling cross-linguistic perception --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Category Assimilation Approach---the PAM --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Cue-Weighting Approach---the A2D model --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Comparison of the two models --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3. --- Perception of lexical tones --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The phonemic status of pitch --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.2. --- Perceptual cues of tones --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Psychoacoustic factors --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4. --- Pitch in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and French --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Lexical tones in Cantonese --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Lexical tones in Mandarin --- p.18 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Pitch in English and French --- p.19 / Chapter 2.5 --- Research Questions --- p.22 / Chapter 2.6 --- Predictions --- p.22 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- EXPERIMENT ONE --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.26 / Chapter 3.2 --- Subjects --- p.27 / Chapter 3.3 --- Materials --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Speech stimuli --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Non-speech stimuli --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4 --- Procedures --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Speech Task --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Non-speech task --- p.36 / Chapter 3.5 --- Results and Analysis --- p.37 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Overall performance in the speech task versus non-speech task --- p.37 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Performance for individual tone pairs --- p.40 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Different types of tone pairs --- p.46 / Chapter 3.5.4 --- Individual differences --- p.48 / Chapter 3.6 --- Discussion --- p.53 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Overall performance in speech and non-speech tasks --- p.53 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Performance on individual tone pairs --- p.54 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Individual differences --- p.57 / Chapter 3.6.4 --- Comparison with previous studies --- p.57 / Chapter 3.7 --- Summary --- p.58 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- EXPERIMENT TWO --- p.59 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2 --- Subjects and Materials --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- Procedures --- p.60 / Chapter 4.4 --- Analysis --- p.61 / Chapter 4.5 --- Results --- p.62 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Number of Dimensions --- p.62 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Tonal distribution --- p.64 / Chapter 4.5.3 --- Interpretation of dimensions --- p.64 / Chapter 4.5.4 --- Weighting of dimensions and individuals --- p.65 / Chapter 4.6 --- Discussion --- p.66 / Chapter 4.6.1 --- Psychoacoustic factors --- p.66 / Chapter 4.6.2 --- L1 experience --- p.67 / Chapter 4.6.3 --- Comparison with the discrimination task --- p.68 / Chapter 4.6.4 --- Comparison with previous studies --- p.69 / Chapter 4.7 --- Summary --- p.70 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- GENERAL DISCUSSION --- p.71 / Chapter 5.1 --- Summary of findings --- p.71 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Psychoacoustic factors --- p.71 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- L1 experience --- p.71 / Chapter 5.2 --- Revisiting the PAM and the A2D model --- p.73 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The predictions of the two models --- p.73 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Evaluations of the two models --- p.76 / Chapter 5.3 --- The psycholinguistic representation of lexical tone --- p.79 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Tone versus Segment --- p.79 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Tone versus Other prosodic categories --- p.80 / Chapter 5.4 --- Limitations and Future study --- p.82 / Chapter 5.5 --- Conclusion --- p.83 / References --- p.85 / Appendix --- p.94 / Chapter Appendix A- --- The randomized wordlists --- p.94 / Chapter Appendix B- --- Dissimilarity rating answer sheet --- p.95

Automatic recognition of Cantonese tones has long been regarded as a difficult task. Cantonese has one of the most complicated tone systems among all languages in the world. This thesis presents a novel approach of modeling Cantonese tones. We propose the use of supra-tone models. Each supra-tone unit covers a number of syllables in succession. The supra-tone model characterizes not only the tone contours of individual syllables but also the transitions among them. By including multiple tone contours in one modeling unit, the relative heights of the tones are captured explicitly. This is especially important for the discrimination among the level tones of Cantonese. / The decoding in conventional LVCSR systems aims at finding the sentence hypothesis, i.e. the string of words, which has the maximum a posterior (MAP) probability in comparison with other hypotheses. However, in most applications, the recognition performance is measured in terms of word error rate (or word accuracy). In Chinese languages, given that "word" is a rather ambiguous concept, speech recognition performance is usually measured in terms of the character error rate. In this thesis, we develop a decoding algorithm that can minimize the character error rate. The algorithm is applied to a reduced search space, e.g. a word graph or the N-best sentence list, which results from the 1st pass of search, and the generalized character posterior probability (GCPP) is maximized. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / This thesis addresses two major problems of the existing large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) technology: (1) inadequate exploitation of alternative linguistic and acoustic information; and (2) the mismatch between the decoding (recognition) criterion and the performance evaluation. The study is focused on Cantonese, one of the major Chinese dialects, which is also monosyllabic and tonal. Tone is somewhat indispensable for lexical access and disambiguation of homonyms in Cantonese. However, tone information into Cantonese LVCSR requires effective tone recognition as well as a seamless integration algorithm. / Qian Yao. / "July 2005." / Adviser: Tan Lee. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: B, page: 4009. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-110). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.