Effect of musical experience and linguistic background on pitch accent language learning

Abstract

While the positive effect of musical experience and a tonal language background on non-native tonal or non-tonal pitch perception were well-established, only a few studies examined non-native perception of a pitch accent language. The current study investigated non-native perception and higher level word learning of a pitch accent language by having participants with tonal language backgrounds (Cantonese and Mandarin) as well as musicians and non-musicians to participate in non-linguistic and linguistic pitch perception tasks (pitch accent identification) and pitch accent word learning tasks. A significant musicality effect was found in all measures. The effect of tonal language backgrounds on the performance of identification was also observed through the distribution of accuracy in different non-native pitch accent patterns. These findings highlight a stronger effect of musicality than L1 on perception and learning of pitch accent language and illustrate the perceptual assimilation of native language on non-native pitch perception.