This study examines the perception of Mandarin lexical tones by native speakers of Greek who are naïve to Mandarin. Being able to discriminate between Mandarin lexical tones is essential for effective and accurate communication in the language. While there is an increasing number of research studying the perception of Mandarin tone by speakers from various backgrounds, the Greek language has not received much attention. By employing an AXB discrimination task, this study tested the perception of Mandarin tone pairs T1-T2, T1-T4, and T2-T3 by native speakers of Greek. Due to their acoustic similarity, these three pairs are often found to be the most confusing tone contrasts for non-native listeners of Mandarin. Greek speakers (NG) had the highest accuracy for T1-T2 (0.88), and similar accuracy rates for T1-T4 (0.83) and T2-T3 (0.82). Subsequently, the Greek speakers were divided into two groups based on their experience with learning or playing a musical instrument, as this is a factor that has been shown to affect tone perception. Compared to non-musicians (NG1), the group of musicians (NG2) had higher accuracy rates for T1-T2 and T1-T4, and a similar accuracy rate for T2-T3. For NG1, from easiest to hardest, the accuracy rates were: T1-T2(0.93)>T1-T4(0.92)>T2-T3(0.82). For NG2, the accuracy rates were: T2-T3(0.82)≥T1-T2(0.82)>T1-T4(0.74). These findings could improve our understanding in regard to the factors that can affect the perception of Mandarin lexical tone by native Greek speakers, which might contribute to language pedagogy. / 本论文旨在研究以零基础普通话希腊语母语人士对普通话声调范畴的感 知能力。为了进行有效和准确的研究，本文实施了普通话发音辨别实验。虽 然声调范畴感知能力的研究越来越多，但以希腊语母语者为研究对象的研究 并不多见。通过 AXB 发音辨别测试，本论文调查了希腊语为母语的人士对普 通话 T1-T2、T1-T4、T2-T3 三组声调组合的辨识感知。由于声音的相似性， 这三对声调组合对非普通话母语的听众经常被发现是最容易被混淆的。结果 发现，讲希腊语的人士（NG）对这三组声调组合辨识的准确度为：T1-T2 （0.88）是最高的，T1-T4（0.83）和 T2-T3（0.82）是相似的。有研究认为 音乐训练可以影响对声调的感知，所以接着实验参与者根据学习或演奏乐器 的经验又被分成两组。与非音乐背景人群（NG1）相比，有音乐背景人群 （NG2）T1-T2 和 T1-T4 的准确率更高，但对 T2-T3 组合的结果是一样的。若 从最简单到最难排序，有音乐背景人群（NG1）的准确度是：T1-T2 （0.93）>T1-T4（0.92）>T2-T3（0.82）。而无音乐背景人群（NG2），准 确度是：T2-T3（0.82）≥T1-T2（0.82）>T1-T4（0.74）。这些发现可以帮 助理解以希腊语为母语的人对普通话声调感知困难的根源，所以对语言教学 法的相关讨论会有所贡献。
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:du-42798 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Apostolou, Dimitrios |
| Publisher | Högskolan Dalarna, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och lärande |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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