The relation between production and perception of Mandarin tone

This pilot study explores the potential production-perception relation of Mandarin tones by examining the association between the acoustic features of native Mandarin tone production and perception of such features, using Tone 2 (rising tone) as a testing case. The perception stimuli were resynthesized by varying F0 onset (spectral feature) and F0 turning-point location (temporal feature) orthogonally forming a grid of tone contours. The endpoints of these dimensions were determined by natural Tone 1 and 3 productions, presumably corresponding to perceptual boundaries for Tone 2. A parabola was fitted to the resynthesized tones to determine the overall shape of the tone contour. Native Mandarin participants were asked to identify the best exemplar of Tone 2. The acoustic analysis of Tone 2 productions by the same participants included measurements of the same features. Preliminary correlation analysis showed a positive production-perception correlation for the temporal feature of F0 turning-point location, but no significant correlation for the spectral features of F0 onset and F0 contour shape, indicating F0 turning-point location as a critical perceptual cue for Tone 2. Further research will include additional tones and additional acoustic features found to characterize these tones to identify the nature of production-perception relation of Mandarin tones.