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

楊建芬. / "2013年9月". / "2013 nian 9 yue". / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 284-304). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in Chinese and English. / Yang Jianfen.

A complex tone composed of only higher-order harmonics typically elicits a pitch percept equivalent to the tone's missing fundamental frequency (f0). When judging the direction of residue pitch change between two such tones, however, listeners may have completely opposite perceptual experiences depending on whether they are biased to perceive changes based on the overall spectrum or the missing f0 (harmonic spacing). Individual differences in residue pitch change judgments are reliable and have been associated with musical experience and functional neuroanatomy. Tone languages put greater pitch processing demands on their speakers than non-tone languages, and we investigated whether these lifelong differences in linguistic pitch processing affect listeners' bias for residue pitch. We asked native tone language speakers and native English speakers to perform a pitch judgment task for two tones with missing fundamental frequencies. Given tone pairs with ambiguous pitch changes, listeners were asked to judge the direction of pitch change, where the direction of their response indicated whether they attended to the overall spectrum (exhibiting a spectral bias) or the missing f0 (exhibiting a fundamental bias). We found that tone language speakers are significantly more likely to perceive pitch changes based on the missing f0 than English speakers. These results suggest that tone-language speakers' privileged experience with linguistic pitch fundamentally tunes their basic auditory processing.

by Lee Yiu Bun. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-205). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In my Event-Related Potential studies, these two factors are analyzed collectively. Two dichotic listening experiments, one word phonological priming experiment, and one sentence semantic violation experiment are conducted. The results indicate that the linguistic role (e.g. semantics) causes the tone processing toward the left side, whereas the physical property causes the tone processing toward the right side. / In this dissertation, I discuss the effects of the linguistic role and the physical property on the hemispheric specialization (lateralization) of the lexical tones. In the previous studies of lateralization, there are two contradictory hypotheses. One emphasizes the linguistic role and predicts a left lateralization of tone perception, while the other emphasizes the physical property and predicts a right lateralization of tone perception. Both hypotheses have their supporting evidence. / No previous tone lateralization studies have analyzed the underlying factors. Following the philosophy that language is built upon multiple cognitive functions, I further examine the effects of semantic memory and pitch processing on the lateralization of tones in various language tasks. My findings help bridge the previous theoretical discrepancies and unify the conflicting experimental results regarding tone lateralization. / Shuai, Lan / Adviser: William S-Y. Wang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-01, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-153). / 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, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

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.

by Kelvin Kwok-wai Law. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-68). / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Motivation --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Scope --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Dissertation Outline --- p.4 / Chapter 2 --- Background and Related Researches --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Interactive Services --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2 --- VOD Architecture --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Video Compression --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- DCT Based Compression --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Subband Video Compression --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Related Research --- p.14 / Chapter 3 --- Multiple Resolutions Video File System --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- Physical Disk Storage System --- p.16 / Chapter 3.2 --- Multi-resolution Video Data Placement Scheme --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3 --- Example of our Video Block Assignment Algorithm --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4 --- An Assignment Algorithm for Homogeneous Video Files --- p.26 / Chapter 4 --- Disk Scheduling and Admission Control --- p.33 / Chapter 4.1 --- Disk Scheduling Algorithm --- p.33 / Chapter 4.2 --- Admission Control --- p.40 / Chapter 5 --- Load Balancing of the Disk System --- p.43 / Chapter 6 --- Buffer Management --- p.49 / Chapter 6.1 --- Buffer Organization --- p.49 / Chapter 6.2 --- Buffer Requirement For Different Video Playback Mode --- p.51 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.63 / Bibliography --- p.66

Ho, Pui Kwan. / "November 2010." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-75). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / List of figures --- p.vi / List of tables --- p.viii / Abbreviations --- p.ix / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1. --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2. --- Thesis organization --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Background / Chapter 2.1. --- Brain structure and its functional organization --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2. --- Introduction to lateralization investigation techniques --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.1. --- Lesion studies and Wada test --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2.2. --- Dichotic listening --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.3. --- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.4. --- Electroencephalography(EEG) & event-related potential(ERP) --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.5. --- Other brain imaging techniques --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.6. --- Comparing different brain-imaging techniques in this study --- p.20 / Chapter 2.3. --- Literature review and the current work --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "The functional and acoustic ""dichotomy""" --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.2. --- Studies on lateralization of tones without linguistic context --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.3. --- Studies on lexical tone lateralization --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.4. --- The current work ´ؤ aim and hypothesis --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1. --- Stimuli --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2. --- Subject --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3. --- Task design --- p.41 / Chapter 3.4. --- ERP recording and data processing --- p.44 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Results and discussions / Chapter 4.1. --- Behavioural data analysis --- p.46 / Chapter 4.2. --- ERP data analysis --- p.48 / Chapter 4.3. --- Discussions --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Further discussions / Chapter 5.1. --- Is lateralization of lexical tone language-specific? --- p.57 / Chapter 5.2. --- Toward a model of speech lateralization --- p.59 / Chapter 5.3. --- An implication on tone feature systems --- p.60 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusion / Chapter 6.1. --- Conclusion --- p.65 / Chapter 6.2. --- Future work --- p.67 / References --- p.68 / Appendix / Chapter A.1. --- Edinburgh handedness test --- p.76 / Chapter A.2. --- Handedness scores --- p.77

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Skin-tone based social stratification has been characterized as an enduring part of the U.S. racial landscape (Hunter, 2002). Despite the plethora of research that examines the racial disparities in education (e.g., Reardon & Portilla, 2015), and an emerging literature finding that lighter skin-tones are associated with higher educational attainment among adults (Hunter, 2002) few studies have examined whether similar processes emerge during early childhood. Thus, grounded in Garcia Coll and colleagues’ (1996) integrative model, we tested whether skin-tone predicted children’s academic achievement, and whether these relations were modified by children’s ethnic-racial identification (i.e., positive ethnic-racial attitudes and centrality). Consistent with expectations, darker skin-tones were associated with lower math scores. Positive attitudes did not significantly moderate the relation between skin-tone and academic achievement. However, contrary to our hypothesis, high levels of ethnic racial centrality strengthened the association between skin-tone and academic achievement. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence for the early development of within race skin-tone based disparities in academic achievement and underscoring the need for further exploration of ethnic racial identification as protective or risk factors in the positive development of minority children.