Suprasegmental Cues to Perception of English Lexical Stress by Mandarin Speakers

Lexical stress in English is signaled by a combination of suprasegmental cues, including pitch, duration and intensity. Previous research reported that non-native listeners might not use all cues when perceiving English stress. The current study investigated how pitch and duration cues affected stress identification in resynthesized English disyllabic nonwords by native speakers of English and Mandarin speakers who learn English as a foreign language (NE and EFL speakers). Within each stimulus, the pitch and/or duration cue suggested either a strong-weak or weak-strong stress pattern. Results showed that both listener groups were able to exploit pitch and duration cues to perceive lexical stress. NE speakers used pitch and duration cues similarly for both stress patterns. EFL speakers, however, relied more on the pitch cue than the duration cue, especially for stimuli with a strong-weak pattern. The perceptual differences were attributed to influences of EFL speakers’ first-language phonology.