Acoustic Feature-based Pronunciation Testing On Chinese Tone Of Non-native Speakers

As the increase of China’s comprehensive national strength and the progress of globalization, Chinese language becomes more and more popular among foreigners all over the world, so mistakes made by them have drawn greater attention. Most foreign students have a heavy foreign accent in their pronunciation. Various studies have indicated that the typical‘foreign accent’is mainly embodied in Chinese tones and intonation, and tone is the basis of intonation in Chinese. In order to help foreign learners better work out tone issue, how to evaluate and describe their tone in an objective, accurate and scientific way is always worth study and discussion.From the perspectives of acoustic phonetics and experiment phonetics, this research proposes a pronunciation test on Chinese tones of foreign Chinese learners. 4 consonant and vowel combination, 16 characters are tested in this research. Through Praat, three major acoustics features of tone—duration, pitch and contour—are compared with those of standard pronunciation and analyzed with CAP—the hypothesized three-level rating scale. This study will also attempt to quantify CAP and further provide a well-established and effective rating method for pronunciation test of non-native Chinese learners. The following research questions are proposed: 1. In the non-native Chinese pronunciation testing, which tonal features can be used as parameters to conduct diagnostic tests on Chinese tone? Can syllable pitch, duration and contour be used to test the citation tone of Chinese? 2. How to use Pratt to convert Chinese tone into five-degree tone value and to evaluate the testees’quality of Chinese tone under the guidance of CAP three-level rating hypothesis? 3. Can the acoustic tonal statistic ranges of CAP three group pronunciations be concluded?In this study, pronunciations are processed and acoustic features are extracted by Praat. A comparison between the pronunciations of test participants and standard pronunciation is conducted and correct, acceptable and problematic pronunciations are analyzed separately. Research results show that syllable duration, pitch and contour can be used in tone testing of non-native Chinese learners, but they should be considered in a combined method with relative value; five-degree value, though classic in describe the tone performance of native speaker, is not suitable for tone testing of non-native Chinese learners, where more tone errors are witnessed; different level pronunciations present different pattern which is easy to identify, and reference testing solution can be provided, but absolute boundary of acoustic value cannot be given.This study, for the first time, tries to apply 3 acoustic features together to the tone testing of non-native speakers. Having discussed the application of syllable duration, pitch and contour in tone testing, this research makes efforts to provide reference for feasible rating criteria, time- and cost- effective testing methods. Furthermore, it actively explores and intents to broaden the utilization of research findings in experimental phonetics.In the end, the paper shows research drawbacks and areas that more attentions are to be given in future pronunciation testing research.