A Categorical Perceptual Study on Mandarin Tones by native Dai language speakers in Dehong Autonomous Prefecture 后印本

摘要: This paper is intended to investigate how the Dai Dialect speaker in Dehong Autonomous Prefecture perceives Mandarin tones. Therefore identification and discrimination experiments are conducted of the four Mandarin tone continuums with Dai Language speakers. The results suggested that the Dai Language speaker’s perception mode of T1-T2 and T2-T4 continuums are Categorical Perception, but for T1-T3, T2-T3, T3-T4 and T1-T4 continuums are not. These findings indicate that Dai language tone system does have a significant influence on the perception of Mandarin tones.