14.1516, Qs: Cantonese/ESL; Transformation-Based Learning

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-1516. Mon May 26 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.1516, Qs: Cantonese/ESL; Transformation-Based Learning

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1)
Date:  Sun, 25 May 2003 12:49:01 +0000
From:  Wai-ming Tsui <tsuiwaiming at hotmail.com>
Subject:  Cantonese ESL learners' perception/production

2)
Date:  Sun, 25 May 2003 22:09:18 +0200
From:  Torbjörn Lager<lager at ling.gu.se>
Subject:  Transformation-Based Learning Bibliography

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sun, 25 May 2003 12:49:01 +0000
From:  Wai-ming Tsui <tsuiwaiming at hotmail.com>
Subject:  Cantonese ESL learners' perception/production

Dear all,

   I am currently working on the acquisition of English plosives by
Cantonese ESL learners. I'll be grateful to anyone who is willing
enlighten me on the question: Why, as Cantonese has the distinction of
[+/-aspirate], can't Cantonese ESL learners be able to perceive and
produce the English word-medial plosives (preceding an unstressed
syllable) as unaspirated?

   English word-medial voiceless plosives preceding an unstressed
vowel are unaspirated. For example, for a word like pepper, the second
/p/ is not aspirated. In Cantonese, we have the contrast of aspirated
and unaspirated plosives, as in pin [phin] 'to edit' and bin [pin]
'edge' (transcribed in Cantonese Romanization scheme Jyutping and
IPA). I believe it is reasonable to assume that, since Cantonese has
the contrast of aspirated/unaspirated plosives, Cantonese ESL learners
are able to perceive, and subsequently produce, the English
word-medial voiceless plosives as unaspirated, rather than
aspirated. However, the fact is that most of them, including myself,
perceive and produce the plosives in question as aspirated.

   One possibility is that it is just the analogy from the variant of
the English plosives, as they are aspirated when preceding a stressed
vowel. This is unlike be the case because we produce the plosives
after /s/ as unaspirated, which is the same as the native speakers'
production.

   Further, if the word-medial plosive is [+voice], no aspiration is
present in Cantonese ESL learners' production. By the same token, they
do not perceive any aspiration there. In their production, it seems
that the duration of the preceding vowel is longer than the case that
if the plosive is [-voice].

Million thanks
Ming.


- ------------------------------ TSUI, Wai-ming,

Postgraduate student,
Dept of Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies,
Chinese University of Hong Kong.


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Sun, 25 May 2003 22:09:18 +0200
From:  Torbjörn Lager<lager at ling.gu.se>
Subject:  Transformation-Based Learning Bibliography

Hi All,

For a couple of years now, I've been compiling a bibliography of papers
about the theory, use and implementation of Transformation-Based
Learning (a machine learning method, invented by Eric Brill, which have
been used to learn rules for many natural language processing tasks).

The relevant URL is:

   http://www.ling.gu.se/~lager/Mutbl/bibliography.html

I'd like to keep the bibliography up-to-date, so if you can suggest
corrections and additions, please mail them directly to me, and I see to
it that they get included.

Thanks,
Torbjörn Lager

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