Kazakh Learners' Production of Mandarin Tones in Colloquial Contexts

Abstract

This study investigates Kazakh learners’ production of Mandarin tones in ten colloquial contexts. Four acoustic parameters—mean F0, F0 range, F0 slope and duration were measured and analyzed. The acoustic and statistical analysis indicate nativelike duration and F0 slope in the learners’ production but non-nativelike F0 height. F0 range differs in tones—nativelike Tone 4, nonnative Tone 1 and better Tone 3 than Tone 2. The results reveal that the prosodic system of learners’ L2 Russian did not affect their tone production of L3 Mandarin as much as that of their L1 Kazakh did.