{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/127352"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/127352","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Chinese rhythm in second language acquisition","abstract":"Mandarin Chinese exhibits unique prosodic constraints on the formation of words and phrases. These constraints are unique to Chinese and are often studied within the broader framework of Chinese phonology, morphology, syntax, and natural language processing. However, little is known about how non-native speakers process and acquire these constraints. This dissertation investigates whether Chinese second language (L2) learners and heritage learners can acquire such prosodic constraints. Two broad research questions are asked: (1) Can adult L2 learners of Chinese acquire these prosodic constraints? (2) Do heritage speakers have selective advantages over L2 learners in learning such prosodic constraints? To answer these questions, three studies were conducted. The first two studies employed Acceptability Judgment Tasks (AJTs) to explore how native speakers, heritage learners, and L2 learners perceive prosodic constraints in noun-noun (NN) compounds and verb-object (VO) phrases. The results revealed that native speakers were very sensitive to prosodic constraints, particularly in semantically congruent contexts. L2 learners, however, showed minimal sensitivity to prosodic violations, suggesting that prosodic constraints are challenging to acquire in adulthood. Heritage learners displayed some degree of sensitivity to prosodic constraints, though not as strongly as native speakers. The two AJTs also identified an interaction effect between prosody and semantics, showing that the effect of prosody depends on semantic conditions. The third study complements the AJTs by analyzing learner production data from a large-scale Chinese learner corpus—the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the Chinese Proficiency Test) Dynamic Composition Corpus. This corpus study identifies violations of prosodic rules in real-world language use, focusing on multi-syllabic modifier-noun (MN) compounds and VO phrases. By integrating experimental methods and corpus analysis, this dissertation underscores the persistent difficulties L2 learners face with prosodic constraints, while heritage learners demonstrate a more native-like application of prosodic rules.","abstract_html":"Mandarin Chinese exhibits unique prosodic constraints on the formation of words and phrases. These constraints are unique to Chinese and are often studied within the broader framework of Chinese phonology, morphology, syntax, and natural language processing. However, little is known about how non-native speakers process and acquire these constraints. This dissertation investigates whether Chinese second language (L2) learners and heritage learners can acquire such prosodic constraints. Two broad research questions are asked: (1) Can adult L2 learners of Chinese acquire these prosodic constraints? (2) Do heritage speakers have selective advantages over L2 learners in learning such prosodic constraints? To answer these questions, three studies were conducted. The first two studies employed Acceptability Judgment Tasks (AJTs) to explore how native speakers, heritage learners, and L2 learners perceive prosodic constraints in noun-noun (NN) compounds and verb-object (VO) phrases. The results revealed that native speakers were very sensitive to prosodic constraints, particularly in semantically congruent contexts. L2 learners, however, showed minimal sensitivity to prosodic violations, suggesting that prosodic constraints are challenging to acquire in adulthood. Heritage learners displayed some degree of sensitivity to prosodic constraints, though not as strongly as native speakers. The two AJTs also identified an interaction effect between prosody and semantics, showing that the effect of prosody depends on semantic conditions. The third study complements the AJTs by analyzing learner production data from a large-scale Chinese learner corpus—the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the Chinese Proficiency Test) Dynamic Composition Corpus. This corpus study identifies violations of prosodic rules in real-world language use, focusing on multi-syllabic modifier-noun (MN) compounds and VO phrases. By integrating experimental methods and corpus analysis, this dissertation underscores the persistent difficulties L2 learners face with prosodic constraints, while heritage learners demonstrate a more native-like application of prosodic rules.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lin, Jiani"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"E Asian Languages & Cultures","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Shih, Chilin","Sadler, Misumi","Yan, Xun","Su, Yunwen"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-12","date_published":"2024-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:03Z","subjects":["Chinese Language","Rhythm","Prosodic Constraint","Heritage Speakers","Second Language Acquisition"],"languages":["eng","en"],"rights":["Copyright 2024 Jiani Lin"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127352","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Shih, Chilin","Sadler, Misumi","Yan, Xun","Su, Yunwen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lin, Jiani"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2024-12","2024-11-25"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis","text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["E Asian Languages & Cultures"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Chinese Language","Rhythm","Prosodic Constraint","Heritage Speakers","Second Language Acquisition"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng","en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2024 Jiani Lin"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127352"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Mandarin Chinese exhibits unique prosodic constraints on the formation of words and phrases. These constraints are unique to Chinese and are often studied within the broader framework of Chinese phonology, morphology, syntax, and natural language processing. However, little is known about how non-native speakers process and acquire these constraints. This dissertation investigates whether Chinese second language (L2) learners and heritage learners can acquire such prosodic constraints. Two broad research questions are asked: (1) Can adult L2 learners of Chinese acquire these prosodic constraints? (2) Do heritage speakers have selective advantages over L2 learners in learning such prosodic constraints? To answer these questions, three studies were conducted. The first two studies employed Acceptability Judgment Tasks (AJTs) to explore how native speakers, heritage learners, and L2 learners perceive prosodic constraints in noun-noun (NN) compounds and verb-object (VO) phrases. The results revealed that native speakers were very sensitive to prosodic constraints, particularly in semantically congruent contexts. L2 learners, however, showed minimal sensitivity to prosodic violations, suggesting that prosodic constraints are challenging to acquire in adulthood. Heritage learners displayed some degree of sensitivity to prosodic constraints, though not as strongly as native speakers. The two AJTs also identified an interaction effect between prosody and semantics, showing that the effect of prosody depends on semantic conditions. The third study complements the AJTs by analyzing learner production data from a large-scale Chinese learner corpus—the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the Chinese Proficiency Test) Dynamic Composition Corpus. This corpus study identifies violations of prosodic rules in real-world language use, focusing on multi-syllabic modifier-noun (MN) compounds and VO phrases. By integrating experimental methods and corpus analysis, this dissertation underscores the persistent difficulties L2 learners face with prosodic constraints, while heritage learners demonstrate a more native-like application of prosodic rules.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-12-01","The student, Jiani Lin, accepted the attached license on 2024-11-19 at 15:50.","The student, Jiani Lin, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-11-19 at 15:52.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-11-25 at 16:15.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21344 on 2025-03-28 at 14:43:12"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Chinese rhythm in second language acquisition"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Shih, Chilin","Sadler, Misumi","Yan, Xun","Su, Yunwen"],"dc:creator":["Lin, Jiani"],"dc:date":["2024-12","2024-11-25"],"dc:description":["Mandarin Chinese exhibits unique prosodic constraints on the formation of words and phrases. These constraints are unique to Chinese and are often studied within the broader framework of Chinese phonology, morphology, syntax, and natural language processing. However, little is known about how non-native speakers process and acquire these constraints. This dissertation investigates whether Chinese second language (L2) learners and heritage learners can acquire such prosodic constraints. Two broad research questions are asked: (1) Can adult L2 learners of Chinese acquire these prosodic constraints? (2) Do heritage speakers have selective advantages over L2 learners in learning such prosodic constraints? To answer these questions, three studies were conducted. The first two studies employed Acceptability Judgment Tasks (AJTs) to explore how native speakers, heritage learners, and L2 learners perceive prosodic constraints in noun-noun (NN) compounds and verb-object (VO) phrases. The results revealed that native speakers were very sensitive to prosodic constraints, particularly in semantically congruent contexts. L2 learners, however, showed minimal sensitivity to prosodic violations, suggesting that prosodic constraints are challenging to acquire in adulthood. Heritage learners displayed some degree of sensitivity to prosodic constraints, though not as strongly as native speakers. The two AJTs also identified an interaction effect between prosody and semantics, showing that the effect of prosody depends on semantic conditions. The third study complements the AJTs by analyzing learner production data from a large-scale Chinese learner corpus—the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the Chinese Proficiency Test) Dynamic Composition Corpus. This corpus study identifies violations of prosodic rules in real-world language use, focusing on multi-syllabic modifier-noun (MN) compounds and VO phrases. By integrating experimental methods and corpus analysis, this dissertation underscores the persistent difficulties L2 learners face with prosodic constraints, while heritage learners demonstrate a more native-like application of prosodic rules.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-12-01","The student, Jiani Lin, accepted the attached license on 2024-11-19 at 15:50.","The student, Jiani Lin, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-11-19 at 15:52.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-11-25 at 16:15.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21344 on 2025-03-28 at 14:43:12"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127352"],"dc:language":["eng","en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2024 Jiani Lin"],"dc:subject":["Chinese Language","Rhythm","Prosodic Constraint","Heritage Speakers","Second Language Acquisition"],"dc:title":["Chinese rhythm in second language acquisition"],"dc:type":["Thesis","text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["E Asian Languages & Cultures"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:03Z"}