Individual Differences in the Sub-Lexical Perception and Production of L2 Chinese Tones

Abstract

Abstract This study examines sub-lexical Chinese tone perception and production, considering the role of individual differences. We recruited 27 native speakers of Portuguese learning Chinese at university in Portugal, ranging from beginner to intermediate-advanced. We assessed their categorical perception and acoustic sensitivity to lexical tones using three synthesized 8-step continua—T1–T2, T2–T4, and T3–T4—in AXB identification and AXB discrimination tasks (from Hallé et al., 2004). Tone production was assessed using a pinyin reading task with monosyllables. Chinese proficiency was measured through the Chinese version of LEXTALE (Chan & Chang, 2018). Auditory processing was tested using pitch and rise-time discrimination tasks and melody reproduction tasks (Saito et al., 2020). Results showed that learners’ perceptual accuracy varied across tone continua, and that T3–T4 was the most challenging. Learners’ categorical perception and acoustic sensitivity in tone perception were not completely consistent. This may reflect a greater sensitivity to pitch rate variation, which learners may have relied on when processing acoustic information. Tone production difficulty aligned with categorical perception ability, with T3 being the most problematic and T1 the most accurate. Additionally, proficiency showed no clear effect on categorical perception, but it was associated with better performance in acoustic discrimination, whereas perceptual acuity in spectral and temporal dimensions played a crucial role in sub-lexical tone processing.