CHAPTER 4 RESULTS
4.2 Experiment 2: two-segment disruption
Table 4. Incorrect responses of tones (low-frequency words): one-segment disruption
Position 1C 1Pre 1V 1Po 1N 2C 2Pre 2V 2Po 2N
Incorrect 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 0
Total 7 2 14 0 6 9 0 10 0 0
Percentage 0 0 28.57 0 16.67 0 0 20 0 0
Table 3 and Table 4 display the incorrect perception of tone among the incorrect
responses in experiment 1. The incorrect responses here mean that subjects did say a
word when they heard the particular stimulus, but the tone of the response to the
particular stimulus was wrong. From these two tables, we know that vowels carry
most tonal information in Mandarin, so when the vowels are replaced by the hiccup
noise, the percentages of the incorrect responses of tones are higher. It is also
noticeable that there is one misperception of tone of 1N. Although coda nasal dose not
occupy a long period of time in words, it still carries tonal information because it
belongs to rime. Therefore, tone can still be misperceived when the coda nasal is
replaced by the hiccup noise.
4.2 Experiment 2: two-segment disruption
(Position=the position replaced by the hiccup noise
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H_CV=high-frequency words with the initial CV replaced by the hiccup noise H_VN/G=high-frequency words with final VG/N replaced by the hiccup noise L_CV=low-frequency words with initial CV replaced by the hiccup noise L_VG/N=low-frequency words with final VG/N replaced by the hiccup noise)
Table 5 shows the results of experiment 2. According to the table, the first row
designates the parts of the test items replaced by the hiccup noise. The first column
illustrates the reaction time (written in millisecond), the number of the test items
which are successfully recognized by the subjects (pass), the number of the test items
which cannot be recognized by the subjects (fail), the total number of the test items,
and the rate of the test items which are recognized correctly. For instance, the data
situated in the second row and the second column is 902 milliseconds. This means
that in average subjects need 902 milliseconds after the end of the targets to recognize
the targets whose initial CVs are replaced by the hiccup noise. The data located in the
fourth row and the second column is 95 milliseconds. This means that there are 95 test
items whose initial CVs are replaced by the hiccup noise not able to be recognized or
correctly recognized. In addition, the table displays that initial CV has the shorter
reaction time for high-frequency words compared with the final rime, and initial CV
has slightly longer reaction time for low-frequency words compared with the final
rime. Last but not least, the lower percent of the accurate responses is 47.22% for
high-frequency words, nestled in the H_CV column, and 12.78% for low-frequency
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words, seated in the L_VG/N column.
From the results above, it is clear that the reaction time of the stimuli whose CV
and VG/G are replaced by the hiccup noise is not greatly different. It implies that the
CV of the first syllable and the VG/N of the second syllable are almost the same
important, which means that the onsets and offsets of the disyllabic words play the
same role in the processing of Mandarin words. However, it seems to be a paradox
that the accuracy of CV is lower than that of VG/N for high-frequency words, but
higher than that of VG/N for low-frequency words. It may be due to the fact that some
high-frequency stimuli whose CV of the first syllable is replaced by the hiccup noise
activate very prominent candidates. Those prominent candidates are very easy to be
selected by the subjects, resulting in the lower accuracy of CV for high-frequency
words. To the contrary, concerning the low-frequency words, the stimuli whose VG/N
in the second syllable is disruptive activate some prominent candidates which are very
easy to be selected by the subjects. Therefore, it causes lower accuracy of VG/N for
low-frequency words. The more prominent activated words can be proved by the
incorrect responses of the subjects. The incorrect responses mean that the subjects did
say a word when they heard a stimulus, but the word is not the correct one. Those
incorrect responses are the candidates activated by the stimuli, which can disturb the
correct selection of the target. The numbers of the incorrect responses of H_CV,
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(81/180, 45%), and 84 (84/180, 46.67%), respectively. The more incorrect responses
of H_CV and L_VG/N may give the answer to the paradox regarding why the
accuracy of CV for high-frequency words is lower than that of VG/N, but higher for
low-frequency words than that of VG/N.
Furthermore, frequency effect reveals here. The reaction time of the high
frequency words is shorter than that of the low frequency words and the accuracy of
CV together with VG/N for high-frequency words is greatly higher than that for
low-frequency words.
Table 6. Incorrect responses of tones: two-segment disruption
Position H_CV H_VG/N L_CV L_VG/N
misperception 15 34 12 57
Total 56 46 81 84
Percentage 26.79 73.91 14.81 67.86
Table 6 shows the incorrect responses of tones by the subjects. “Total” means the
overall number of the incorrect responses. “Misperception” means that the incorrect
responses are not only wrong regarding the segmental level, but also tonal level.
Concerning the misperception of tones, there are 118 incorrect perceptions of tones,
including 15 for H_CV, 34 for H_VG/N, 12 for L_CV, and 57 for L_VG/N. The
incorrect tone perception most frequently happens when the vowel is interrupted. If
both vowel and postnuclear glide/coda nasal are disrupted, the rate of the
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carry tonal information, while the onset consonant does not.
The results indicated that tone 4 is most likely to be misperceived if some part of
tone 4 is disruptive and the other tones can also be misperceived as tone 4. Among the
118 misperceptions of tones, 48 involve tone 4 (40.68%), 30 involve tone 1 (25.42%),
20 involve tone 2 (25.42%), and 20 involve tone 3 (25.42%). This may be due to the
fact that tone 4 ranges from low pitch to high pitch. If the final part of the tone 4 is
replaced by the hiccup noise, the high pitch at the beginning of the tone 4 can be
misperceived as tone 1 or 2. For instance, the test item /min35 t oŋ51/ ‘the common
people’ (民眾), as illustrated in Figure 9, is perceived as /lin35 t y55/ ‘the neighbor’
(鄰居) when the second rime of the test item is replaced by the hiccup noise.
Figure 9. The test item /min35 t oŋ51/ ‘the common people’ (民眾) whose second rime is replaced by the hiccup noise
The original tone 4 of the second syllable is misperceived as tone 1. It is because
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the pitch of the beginning of tone 1 is similar to that of tone 4. Thus, when the final
part of tone 1 is replaced by the hiccup noise, the original tone 1 may be misperceived
as tone 4. However, more complicated situation occurs. For instance, the test item
/fan51 tȹsaj51/ ‘a meal’ (飯菜) is misperceived as /fan51 tȹ ŋ21/ (a nonword) when
the final rime of the test item is replaced by the hiccup noise. It is because the final
part of the first tone 4 is a low-falling pitch. The beginning of the second tone 4 is a
high pitch. The combination of the final part of the first tone 4 and the initial part of
the second tone 4 results in a full tone 3, which forms the impression that the tone of
the second syllable is 3 rather than 4.
In addition, if the initial part of the tone 4 is replaced by the hiccup noise, the
low pitch at the end of the tone 4 can be misperceived as tone 3. For example, the test
item /nej51 oŋ35/ ‘contents’ (內容), as exemplified in figure 10, is perceived as
/mej21 oŋ35/ ‘to improve one’s looks’ (美容) when its initial CV is replaced by the
hiccup noise. The tone of the first syllable is perceived as tone 3 rather than the
original tone 4. This is because the low-falling pitch of the final part of tone 4 gives
the impression that it is tone 3 instead of tone 4. Therefore, tone 4 is the easiest tone
to be misperceived if it is partly disruptive and the other tones are also easy to be
misperceived as tone 4.
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Figure 10. The test item /nej51 oŋ35/ ‘contents’ (內容) whose initial CV is replaced by the hiccup noise
Apart from the misperception of tone 4, tone 1 is the second easiest tone to be
misperceived. There are 30 test items whose original tone is tone 1 and is perceived as
tone 3. The tone 2 test items whose initial CV is replaced by the hiccup noise are easy
to be perceived as tone 1. It is because tone 1 is a high-level tone. The pitch of tone 2
rises from mid to high. Once the initial part of tone 2 is replaced by the hiccup noise,
the high pitch at the end of tone 2 is easy to be perceived as tone 1, which is a high
tone. However, there are also some test items perceived as tone 1 whose second VG/N
is replaced by the hiccup noise. For example, the test item /piŋ35 t əŋ51/ ‘a certificate’
(憑證) is perceived as /tiŋ35 tȹ 55/ ‘to park a car’ (停車). It may result from the high
pitch at the beginning of the second syllable. The high pitch of tone 4 at the beginning
of the second syllable is similar to the high pitch tone 1. Tone 4 is a high-falling tone.
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When the final part of tone 4 is replaced by the hiccup noise, the beginning high pitch
of tone 4 is likely to be perceived as tone 1. Therefore, tone 4 can also be perceived as
tone 1under the above mentioned circumstances.
In short, tone 4 is most likely to be misperceived as the other tones if some part
of it is replaced by the hiccup noise, and the other tones are also easy to be
misperceived as tone 4 if some part of them is disruptive. The reason is that tone 4 has
the widest pitch range.