Rhythmic transfer from Mandarin Chinese to French in the learning of French as a foreign language: acoustics and perception.

Transfert rythmique du chinois mandarin au français dans l’apprentissage du Français Langue Étrangère : acoustique et perception

Claire Pillot-Loiseau (1) , Han Xie

1 LPP - LPP - Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie - UMR 7018

This study concerns the rhythmic transfer of Mandarin Chinese to French in the context of French as a Foreign Language learning. The rhythm of French spoken sentences produced by ten Chinese-speaking learners at an intermediate-advanced French level, is compared with that of their Mandarin Chinese productions, and with the rhythm of the same French sentences produced by native subjects. Acoustically, quantitative measures of rhythm show significant differences between the rhythmic patterns of Mandarin Chinese and French produced by Chinese subjects. The values of rhythmic measures applied to French as a foreign language are closer to those applied to native French, which is in contradiction with the results of the perceptual study according to which the rhythmic transfer of Mandarin Chinese to French can be identified by eight native speakers of French. The disparity between acoustics and perception casts doubt on the use of rhythmic measures in this rhythmic transfer study.

Cette étude concerne le transfert rythmique du chinois mandarin au français dans le cadre de l'apprentissage du Français Langue Étrangère. Le rythme de phrases françaises produites par dix apprenants sinophones de niveau de français intermédiaire-avancé, est comparé avec celui de leurs productions en chinois mandarin et celui en français produit par des natives. Acoustiquement, les mesures quantitatives du rythme mettent en lumière la différence significative entre les patterns rythmiques du chinois mandarin et du français produit par les sujets sinophones. Les valeurs des mesures rythmiques appliquées au français langue étrangère sont plus proches de celles appliquées au français natif, ce qui est en contradiction avec les résultats de l'étude perceptive selon lesquels le transfert rythmique du chinois mandarin au français peut être identifié par huit locuteurs natifs du français. La disparité entre acoustique et perception met en doute l'emploi de ces mesures dans cette étude sur le transfert rythmique. Abstract. Rhythmic transfer from Mandarin Chinese to French in the learning of French as a foreign language: acoustics and perception. This study concerns the rhythmic transfer of Mandarin Chinese to French in the context of French as a Foreign Language learning. The rhythm of French spoken sentences produced by ten Chinese-speaking learners at an intermediate-advanced French level, is compared with that of their Mandarin Chinese productions, and with the rhythm of the same French sentences produced by native subjects. Acoustically, quantitative measures of rhythm show significant differences between the rhythmic patterns of Mandarin Chinese and French produced by Chinese subjects. The values of rhythmic measures applied to French as a foreign language are closer to those applied to native French, which is in contradiction with the results of the perceptual study according to which the rhythmic transfer of Mandarin Chinese to French can be identified by eight native speakers of French. The disparity between acoustics and perception casts doubt on the use of rhythmic measures in this rhythmic transfer study.

Domaines: Linguistique

Claire Pillot-Loiseau, Han Xie. Transfert rythmique du chinois mandarin au français dans l’apprentissage du Français Langue Étrangère : acoustique et perception. SHS Web of Conferences, 2018, 46, pp.09001. ⟨10.1051/shsconf/20184609001⟩. ⟨halshs-02068340⟩