Native Hakka speakers' identification of Cantonese tones: A comparative analysis

VernacularTitle:客家语母语者辨识粤语声调的特征分析
Author: Hanxiong GAO ¹ ; Yan CHEN ; Cuihuan PAN ; Nan HU ; Xuan WANG ; Yongmei ZENG
Author Information

1. 广州医科大学附属第二医院
Keywords: Cantonese; Hakka; Tones
From: Chinese Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2017;39(11):851-855
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Objective To investigate the features of native Hakka speakers' ability to identify Cantonese tones.Methods Twenty native Cantonese speakers and 12 native Hakka speakers were given the Hongkong Cantonese tone identification test.Results Neither group was troubled by similar vowel and consonant sounds.The Cantonese group could identify all tones well except distinguishing tones 5 and 2 (89％) and tones 4 and 6 (89％).The Hakkas had the most difficulty distinguishing tones 3 and 6 (70.0％),but significant differences were observed between the two groups in the identification of tones 2 and 5 and 2 and 4.Conclusion A native Hakka speaker's ability to identify Cantonese tones may be closely related to the tone's pitch,tonal patterns as well as the Hakka tone system.