The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context

Abstract Recent research has revealed cross-linguistic and individual variations in the processing of acoustic cues for phonetic categorization. This study extends this line of inquiry by examining the auditory perception of native Spanish listeners and Chinese learners of Spanish, focusing on their...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Peizhu Shang, Yuxi Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2024-12-01
Series:Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04216-6
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850244555362795520
author Peizhu Shang
Yuxi Wu
author_facet Peizhu Shang
Yuxi Wu
author_sort Peizhu Shang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Recent research has revealed cross-linguistic and individual variations in the processing of acoustic cues for phonetic categorization. This study extends this line of inquiry by examining the auditory perception of native Spanish listeners and Chinese learners of Spanish, focusing on their ability to map acoustic signals onto intonation categories. Through two identification tasks employing synthesized stimuli with systematically varied acoustic and stress patterns, we investigated how listeners navigate multiple cues in recognizing Spanish sentence types. Results indicated that changes in fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity significantly influenced native Spanish listeners’ intonation judgments, while Chinese learners predominantly relied on F0 modulations to differentiate statements from yes/no questions. Compared to native Spanish listeners, Chinese learners demonstrated lower sensitivity to changes across the three cues and less proficiency in reconciling cue trade-offs. Furthermore, our study revealed that both Spanish and Chinese listeners’ perceptual performance was modulated by stress patterns and their chronological age. Overall, our research elucidates the multifaceted nature of intonation perception, underscoring the critical role of linguistic background, individual characteristics, and lower-level prosodic context in the transformation of acoustic details into intonation categories.
format Article
id doaj-art-1e9daa734354476a9df7cdc4685a6f13
institution OA Journals
issn 2662-9992
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Springer Nature
record_format Article
series Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
spelling doaj-art-1e9daa734354476a9df7cdc4685a6f132025-08-20T01:59:42ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922024-12-0111111210.1057/s41599-024-04216-6The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic contextPeizhu Shang0Yuxi Wu1School of Foreign Languages, Beijing Institute of TechnologyFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of MacauAbstract Recent research has revealed cross-linguistic and individual variations in the processing of acoustic cues for phonetic categorization. This study extends this line of inquiry by examining the auditory perception of native Spanish listeners and Chinese learners of Spanish, focusing on their ability to map acoustic signals onto intonation categories. Through two identification tasks employing synthesized stimuli with systematically varied acoustic and stress patterns, we investigated how listeners navigate multiple cues in recognizing Spanish sentence types. Results indicated that changes in fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity significantly influenced native Spanish listeners’ intonation judgments, while Chinese learners predominantly relied on F0 modulations to differentiate statements from yes/no questions. Compared to native Spanish listeners, Chinese learners demonstrated lower sensitivity to changes across the three cues and less proficiency in reconciling cue trade-offs. Furthermore, our study revealed that both Spanish and Chinese listeners’ perceptual performance was modulated by stress patterns and their chronological age. Overall, our research elucidates the multifaceted nature of intonation perception, underscoring the critical role of linguistic background, individual characteristics, and lower-level prosodic context in the transformation of acoustic details into intonation categories.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04216-6
spellingShingle Peizhu Shang
Yuxi Wu
The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
title The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
title_full The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
title_fullStr The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
title_full_unstemmed The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
title_short The impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and Spanish intonation categories in a cross-linguistic context
title_sort impact of multifaceted factors on auditory mapping between acoustic cues and spanish intonation categories in a cross linguistic context
url https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04216-6
work_keys_str_mv AT peizhushang theimpactofmultifacetedfactorsonauditorymappingbetweenacousticcuesandspanishintonationcategoriesinacrosslinguisticcontext
AT yuxiwu theimpactofmultifacetedfactorsonauditorymappingbetweenacousticcuesandspanishintonationcategoriesinacrosslinguisticcontext
AT peizhushang impactofmultifacetedfactorsonauditorymappingbetweenacousticcuesandspanishintonationcategoriesinacrosslinguisticcontext
AT yuxiwu impactofmultifacetedfactorsonauditorymappingbetweenacousticcuesandspanishintonationcategoriesinacrosslinguisticcontext