On the morning of May 30, the 23rd “Shangyan Forum” of the SFL was successfully held in Room 7-210, Building 7, Binhai Campus. The SFL invited associate professor Zhu Hong, a master’s supervisor from Jiangnan University, to deliver a lecture titled “A Study on Categorical Perception of Mandarin Tones Based on Acoustic Features”. The lecture was chaired by professor Chao Luomeng, Dean of the SFL, and attended by faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Zhu Hong first explained that understanding the relationship between acoustic parameters and perception patterns serves as a crucial link connecting speech production, acoustic transmission, and auditory cognition.

Based on the acoustic characteristics of the four tones in standard mandarin, Zhu Hong explored the identification patterns of the high-level tone (Tone 1) and the falling tone (Tone 4), as well as the rising tone (Tone 2) and the dipping tone (Tone 3). Using both Japanese learners and native Chinese speakers as research subjects, she conducted identification and discrimination experiments. The results showed that when the endpoint fundamental frequency (F0) was used as the parameter, both Japanese learners and native speakers exhibited categorical perception for Tone 1 and Tone 4. However, when ΔF0 (change in F0) and turning point time were used as parameters, both groups showed a tendency toward categorical perception for Tone 2 and Tone 3, with their categorical perception ability gradually strengthening as their proficiency in Chinese improved.

Zhu Hong emphasized that key acoustic parameters are essential clues for exploring the perceptual patterns of mandarin tones, with significant implications for correcting tone errors in Chinese learners, rehabilitating speech disorders among native speakers, and forensic voice identification.

Following the lecture, faculty and students engaged in an in-depth discussion on issues related to mandarin tone perception, offering new research perspectives and broadening academic horizons for attendees.