Influence of within-category tonal information in the recognition of Mandarin-Chinese words by native and non-native listeners: An eye-tracking study

This study investigates how within-category tonal information influences native and non-native Mandarin listeners' spoken word recognition. Previous eye-tracking research has shown that the within-category phonetic details of consonants and vowels constrain lexical activation. However, given the highly dynamic and variable nature of lexical tones, it is unclear whether the within-category phonetic details of lexical tones would similarly modulate lexical activation. Native Mandarin listeners and proficient adult English-speaking Mandarin learners were tested in a visual-world eye-tracking experiment. The target word contained a level tone and the competitor word contained a high-rising tone, or vice versa. The auditory stimuli were manipulated such that the target tone was either canonic...

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