Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones : : beyond first-language transfer / / by Hang Zhang.

• Author: Zhang, Hang.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill Rodopi,, 2018.
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Utrecht Studies in Language and Communication 33.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (vii, 149 pages).

Tones are the most challenging aspect of learning Chinese pronunciation for adult learners and traditional research mostly attributes tonal errors to interference from learners’ native languages. In Second Language Acquisition of Mandarin Chinese Tones, Hang Zhang offers a series of cross-linguistic studies to argue that there are factors influencing tone acquisition that extend beyond the transfer of structures from learners’ first languages, and beyond characteristics extracted from Chinese. These factors include universal phonetic and phonological constraints as well as pedagogical issues. By examining non-native Chinese tone productions made by speakers of non-tonal languages (English, Japanese, and Korean), this book brings together theory and practice and uses the theoretical insights to provide concrete suggestions for teachers and learners of Chinese.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- List of Selected Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Three Puzzles in Mandarin L2 Tone Acquisition -- Methodology: Data Collection and Analysis -- Coarticulation Effects in L2 Chinese Tones1 -- Phonological Universals and the Acquisition Order of Mandarin Tones1 -- Acquisition of the Third Tone1 -- Teaching Mandarin Chinese Tones -- Back Matter -- References -- Index.