人工耳蜗植入儿童汉语轻声习得研究

The Acquisition of Mandarin Neutral Tone by Children with Cochlear Implants

目的考察人工耳蜗植入儿童的轻声发音模式,探究植入年龄、字调习得对其轻声习得的影响。方法对85名1~6岁人工耳蜗植入儿童(听障组)和44名3岁健听儿童(对照组)的字调和轻声词发音进行声学分析和对比。结果早期(1~2岁)人工耳蜗植入儿童字调的发音模式与健听儿童相似,并掌握了轻声“短而轻”的特征和变调模式,但仅限于较为熟悉的轻声词(亲属重叠词);晚期(2岁后)人工耳蜗植入儿童存在字调调型偏平、调类混淆问题,未掌握轻声的发音模式。结论2岁前是声调习得的重要阶段,能在2岁前植入人工耳蜗是听障儿童习得正常的汉语声调系统(包括字调和轻声)的关键。

Objective This study investigated the acoustic features of neutral tone productions from children with CIs,explored the effect of age at implantation and the lexical tone acquisition on their neutral tone acquisition.Method Lexical tone and neutral tone productions from 85 children with CIs(implanted between 1 and 6 years)were acoustically analyzed and compared with those from 44 case 3-year-olds with normal hearing(controls).Results Early-implanted(implanted from 1 to 2 years)children produced lexical tones that were acoustically similar to those from 3-year-olds with normal hearing.They also mastered the“toneless”feature of neutral tone but only for familiar words(kinshipreduplicatives).Later-implanted(implanted after age 2)children produced generally flatter and less distinguishable pitch contour of lexical tones;they did not master the toneless feature of neutral tone either.Conclusion The first two years of life might be an important stage in tonal development;receiving cochlear implants before age 2 might be critical for children with hearing impairment to acquire typical Mandarin tones,including both lexical tones and neutral tone.