• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2020

Non-tonal language speakers may have difficulty learning second language lexical tones. In the present study, we explored this issue with Korean-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese (i.e., non-tonal first language speakers) by examining their perception and production of Mandarin lexical tones. In the perception experiment, the Korean learners were asked to listen to the tone of each stimulus and assign it to one of four Mandarin lexical tones using the response keys; in the production experiment, the learners provided speech production data for the lexical tones and then their productions were identified by native listeners of Mandarin Chinese. Our results showed that the Korean learners of Mandarin Chinese had difficulty in perceptually distinguishing Tone 2 and Tone 3, with the most frequent production error being the mispronunciation of Tone 3 as Tone 2. We also investigated whether unfamiliar non-native phonemes (i.e., Chinese phonemes) that do not exist in the native language phonemic inventory (i.e., Korean) may hinder the processing of the non-native lexical tones. We found no evidence for such effects, neither for the perception nor for the production of the tones.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.28
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• pp.141-161
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• 2012

Abusive language used by college students reflects current social attitudes and values. Adopting a comparative and cross-cultural perspective, this study examines the frequency and perceived severity of abusive language in English and Mandarin Chinese. Because abusive language often includes sexual connotations, this paper employs a particular concentration on sexism. Gender differences in the use of abusive language illustrate a male bias across cultures.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.459-467
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• 2016

In Korea, the market size for environment-friendly agricultural products has reached a plateau, even though many Korean consumers still show a high level of preference for environment-friendly agricultural products. In order to solve this problem, some Korean farmers and marketers are starting to try to export their products to many countries, including China. China, in particular, is becoming one of the fastest rising market for Korean environment-friendly agricultural products, after the signing of the Free Trade Agreement with China. However, little research has been done or reported about the purchase behaviors of Chinese consumers. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the environment-friendly agricultural product purchase behavior (especially, mandarin orange and muskmelon) of consumers in the Chinese market and to present some useful implications for Korean farmers and marketers. Through survey in China (especially, Beijing and Shanghai) and frequency analysis, this study made the following findings: first, Chinese consumers show a very strong concern for environment-friendly agricultural products. Second, many Chinese consumers usually buy environment-friendly agricultural products more than two times per month. Third, Chinese consumers give more value to freshness and food-safety than taste when they make decisions on buying environment-friendly mandarin orange and muskmelon. These can have some implications for the exportation of environment-friendly agricultural products.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.275-276
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• 1996

Koreans learning Mandarin Chinese are faced with serious pronunciation errors in vowels, consonants and tones, etc. Most of these pronunciation errors are found to be due the transference of the native Korean phonetic habits. Following are some of the most common pronunciation errors encountered by Koreans learning Chinese.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.43-47
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• 2003

This paper is phonetic study of $F_{0}$ range and boundary tone in Mandarin Chinese. The production data from 6 Chinese speakers show that there are declination, pitch resetting and tonal variation of boundary tone. In declarative sentence, $F_{0}$ declines gradually over the utterance but mid-sentence boundary prevents $F_{0}$ of following syllable from declining because of pitch resetting. $F_{0}$ range of syllable is expanded before the mid- and final sentence boundaries. In interrogative one, $F_{0}$ ascends gradually over the utterance and mid-sentence boundary makes $F_{0}$ of following syllable rise more. $F_{0}$ range of sentence final syllable is expanded and $F_{0}$ contour shows rising curve.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.182-191
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• 2007

This paper gives a thorough investigation into Mandarin sentence-final particles (henceforth SFPs). First I induce core grammatical functions and semantic interpretations of SFPs. Based on Rizzi's (1997) Split CP hypothesis, I make some modifications to accommodate Mandarin SFPs and map them onto separate functional heads within a proper hierarchy. I also examine some empirical evidence of head directionality and tentatively assume Mandarin C is head-initial. To explain the surface head-final order, in light of Chomsky's (2001) Phase Theory and Hsieh's (2005) revised Spell-out hypothesis, I pose a CP complement to Spec movement. Following Moro's (2000) idea, I further claim the motivation behind is to seek for antisymetry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 1996.02a
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• pp.93-98
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• 1996

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

The perceptual assimilation of a nonnative phonological contrast can change with linguistic experience, resulting in naïve listeners and novice second language (L2) learners potentially assimilating the members of a nonnative contrast to different native (L1) categories. While it has been shown that this sort of change can affect the discrimination of the nonnative contrast, it has not been tested whether such a change could have consequences for the production of the contrast. In this study, L1 speakers of Mandarin Chinese who were (1) naïve to Korean, (2) novice L2 learners, or (3) advanced L2 learners participated in a Korean non-word repetition task using word-initial sibilants. The initial CVs of their repetitions were then played to L1 Korean listeners who categorized the initial consonant. The naïve talkers were more likely to repeat an initial /s^ha/ as an affricate, whereas the L2 learners repeated it as a fricative, in line with how these listeners have been shown to assimilate Korean sibilants to Mandarin categories. This result suggests that errors in the production of new words presented auditorily to nonnative listeners may be driven by how they perceptually assimilate the nonnative sounds, emphasizing the need to better understand what drives changes in perceptual assimilation that accompany increased linguistic experience.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.532-541
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• 2007

This paper investigates children's comprehension and production of demonstrative pronouns (DPs), 'zhege' (this) and 'nage' (that), in Mandarin Chinese. Subjects are children of ages three, four, five and six. Based on the results of the present experiment, children's developmental stages and the corresponding age grading are provided. Also, the present study incorporates a physical clue into the experiment. The result suggests that in the acquisition of deixis children rely highly on physical context to work out the meaning distinction. In addition, Piaget's egocentrism hypothesis and H. Clark's marking hypothesis are examined in the study. The result seems to support the egocentrism hypothesis. Subjects under the age of six do fail to shift the deictic center when they and the experimenter have a different perspective. As for the marking hypothesis, the study seems to challenge the hypothesis. The result shows that children actually performed better on the marked term 'zhege' than the unmarked member 'nage'.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Language and Information Conference
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• 1995.02a
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• pp.237-242
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• 1995