Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:30:37.565Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dialect proficiency and Mandarin rating in dialect identification: The case of Jiangsu province

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Dan Jiao  and
Ksenia Gnevsheva
Dan Jiao*
Affiliation:
1College of International Studies, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
Ksenia Gnevsheva
Affiliation:
2School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
*
Author for Correspondence: Dan Jiao, Email: dan.jiao@yzu.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper investigated origin identification in Jiangsu province, China. In total, ten localities were involved, including nine from Jiangsu province and the city of Beijing. Listeners were presented with recordings of forty speakers (four speakers from each locality) speaking local Mandarin and were asked to identify the region of origin of the speaker and score their Mandarin. Results revealed significant effects of speaker dialect and listener dialect in the identification of speaker origin. Firstly, listeners were able to make distinctions between speakers of Jiangsu province dialect and speakers of non-Jiangsu province dialect (Beijing speakers). Secondly, listeners from Jiangsu province were significantly better than non-Jiangsu listeners at correctly identifying the origin of speakers. In addition, we found significant effects of speaker gender, speaker dialect proficiency, listener dialect proficiency, and speaker Mandarin rating on the identification accuracy of speaker origin in individual analyses of dialect areas.

Keywords

Dialect identificationJiangsu provincespeaker originMandarin rating
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistic Geography , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , April 2022 , pp. 23 - 33
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baayen, Harald R., Davidson, Doug J. & Bates, Douglas M.. 2008. Mixed-effects modelling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language 59. 390–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Wendy, Eddington, David & Nay, Lyndsey. 2009. Dialect identification: The effects of region of origin and amount of experience. American Speech 84(1). 48–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayard, Donn, Weatherall, Ann, Gallois, Cynthia & Pittam, Jeffery. 2001. Pax Americana? Accent attitudinal evaluations in New Zealand, Australia and America. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(1). 22–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, Susan D. 2004. Good to hear: Using the trope of standard to find one’s way in a sea of linguistic diversity. In Zhou, Minglang (ed.), Language policy in the People’s Republic of China: Theory and practice since 1949, 123–141. Boston: Kluwer Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Huaxiang. 2015. 浅谈江苏方言的儿化和儿尾 [Discussion on the suffixation of nonsyllabic ‘r’ in Jiangsu dialects]. Modern Chinese 4. 31–33.Google Scholar
Chen, Yachuan. 1991. “地方普通话”的性质特征及其他 [The nature and other features of ‘Local Mandarin’]. Chinese Teaching in the World 1. 12–17.Google Scholar
Chen, Zhangtai. 1990. 关于普通话与方言的几个问题 [Few issues about Mandarin and dialects]. Language Planning 4. 27–29.Google Scholar
Clopper, Cynthia G. & Bradlow, Ann R.. 2009. Free classification of American English dialects by native and non-native listeners. Journal of Phonetics 37(4). 436–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clopper, Cynthia G., Conrey, Brianna & Pisoni, David B.. 2005. Effects of talker gender on dialect categorization. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24(2). 182–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clopper, Cynthia G. & Pisoni, David B.. 2004a. Some acoustic cues for the perceptual categorization of American English regional dialects. Journal of Phonetics 32(1). 11140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clopper, Cynthia G. & Pisoni, David B.. 2004b. Homebodies and army brats: Some effects of early linguistic experience and residential history on dialect categorization. Language Variation and Change 16. 31–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clopper, Cynthia G. & Pisoni, David B.. 2006. Effects of region of origin and geographic mobility on perceptual dialect categorization. Language Variation and Change 18(2). 193–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clopper, Cynthia G. & Pisoni, David B.. 2007. Free classification of regional dialects of American English. Journal of Phonetics 35(3). 421–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coupland, Nikolas & Bishop, Hywel. 2007. Ideologised values for British accents. Journal of Sociolinguistics 11. 74–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, Daniel. 1999a. Geographical perceptions of Japanese dialect regions. In Preston, Dennis R. (ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1), 177–198. Amsterdam & The Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, Daniel. 1999b. Mapping nonlinguists’ evaluations of Japanese language variations. In Preston, Dennis R. (ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1), 199–226. Amsterdam & The Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, Daniel & Yim, Young-Cheol. 2000. Perceptions of regional variation in Korean. 言语研究 Gengo Kenkyu 117. 37–69.Google Scholar
Gal, Susan. 1978. Peasant men can’t get wives: Language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. Language in Society 7(1). 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, Jiayin; Hallé, Pierre & Draxler, Christoph. 2019. Breathy voice and low-register: A case of trading relation in Shanghai Chinese tone perception? Language and Speech. 1–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Gnevsheva, Ksenia. 2018. Variation in foreign accent identification. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 39(8). 688–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, Fumio. 1999. Classification of dialects by image: English and Japanese. In Preston, Dennis R. (ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1), 147–59. Amsterdam & The Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, Fumio. 2018. Continuum of Fujian language boundary perception: Dialect division and dialect image. Dialectologia 20. 147–80.Google Scholar
Jiangsu Local Chronicles Compilation Committee. 1998. 江苏省志·方言志[Local chronicles of Jiangsu Province · Dialect chronicle]. Nanjing: Nanjing University Press.Google Scholar
Jin, Jian. 2010. 广州方言与东海方言平调的感知研究 [A perception research of level tone patterns of Cantonese and Donghai dialect]. Dialect 2. 145–55.Google Scholar
Jin, Jian. 2011. 垫江方言单字调的感知研究 [A perception research on citation tones of Dianjiang dialect]. Studies in Language and Linguistics 31(4). 107–14.Google Scholar
Jin, Jian. 2015a. 杭州方言多个升调的感知研究 [A perception study on multiple rising tones in Hangzhou dialect]. Journal of Sun Yat-Sen University (Social Science Edition) 55(1). 70–82.Google Scholar
Jin, Jian. 2015b. 同一方言内部起点同高的两种降调——来自闽语惠来方言和赣语茶陵方言的个案 [Two kinds of falling tones of Huilai dialect in Guangdong province and Chaling dialect in Hunan province]. Dialect 1. 24–31.Google Scholar
Jin, Jian & Shi, Qisheng. 2010. 汕头谷饶方言多个降调的声学分析和感知研究 [An acoustic analysis and perception research on the falling tones in the Shantou Gurao dialect]. Studies of the Chinese Language 6. 544–76.Google Scholar
Kingstone, Sydney. 2015. “Scottish”, “English” or “foreign”: Mapping Scottish dialect perceptions. English World-Wide 36(3). 315–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuznetsova, Alexandra, Brockhoff, Per B. & Christensen, Rune Haubo Bojesen. 2017. LmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software 82(13). 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lance, Donald M. 1999. Regional variation in subjective dialect divisions in the United States. In Preston, Dennis R. (ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1), 283–314. Amsterdam & The Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, Hannah, Watson, Kevin & Gnevsheva, Ksenia. 2016. Perceptual dialectology in northern England: Accent recognition, geographical proximity and cultural prominence. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20(2). 192–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Yuming. 2010. 论中国语言资源有声数据库的建设 [On the establishment of the audio database of Chinese language resources]. Studies of the Chinese Language 4. 356–84.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Chris. 2007. Northern English dialects: A perceptual approach. Sheffield, UK: University of Sheffield dissertation.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Chris. 2012. The effect of proximity in perceptual dialectology. Journal of Sociolinguistics 16(5). 638–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preston, Dennis R. 1989. Perceptual dialectology: Nonlinguistics’ view of areal linguistics. Dordrecht & The Netherlands: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team. 2019. R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 3.3.3). R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Tang, Chaoju. 2009. Mutual intelligibility of Chinese dialects: An experimental approach. The Netherlands: LOT Publications.Google Scholar
Tang, Zhiqiang & Li, Shanpeng. 2018. 扬州方言入声区别性特征的感知研究 [Perceptual studies on the distinctive features of Rusheng Tone in Yangzhou dialect, Jiangsu province]. Dialect 4. 411–20.Google Scholar
Wang, Yizhi & Chen, Zhongmin. 2016. 吴语全浊塞音声母的感知研究——以上海话为例 [Perceptual studies on voiced initial stops in Wu dialect: Illustrated by the example of Shanghai dialect]. Studies in Language and Linguistics 36(2). 44–50.Google Scholar
Weatherall, Ann, Gallois, Cynthia & Pittam, Jeffery. 1998. Australasians identifying Australasian accents. Te Reo 41. 153–62.Google Scholar
Williams, Angie, Garrett, Peter & Coupland, Nikolas. 1999. Dialect recognition. In Preston, Dennis R. (ed.), Handbook of perceptual dialectology (Vol. 1), 345–58. Amsterdam & The Netherlands: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yan, Qingyang. 2015. The perceptual categorization of Enshi Mandarin regional varieties. Journal of Linguistic Geography 3. 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yao, Youchun. 1989. 应该开展对“地方普通话”的研究 [Research on ‘Local Mandarin’ should be carried out]. Language Planning 3. 18–21.Google Scholar
Zhang, Ruifeng & Kong, Jiangping. 2014. 河南禹州方言声调的声学及感知研究 [Acoustic and perceptual studies on the four tones of Yuzhou dialect, Henan province]. Dialect 3. 206–14.Google Scholar