REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Perception Science
A Meta-Analytic Review of Mandarin Tone Perception: Tone Height and Tone Contour, Prosodic Background, and L2 Experience
East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
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Abstract
Abstract: This meta-analysis synthesizes data from 18 empirical studies to examine how tonal features of height and contour, native prosodic background, and second language (L2) experience affect the perception of Mandarin lexical tones. Results revealed overall large effect sizes, indicating that variability in tone perception is statistically robust and theoretically significant. Importantly, substantial heterogeneity across studies was explained by key methodological moderators, including task type, stimulus type, outcome measure, sample size, and gender composition. Studies using passive hearing tasks, synthesized stimuli, accuracy-based outcome measures and more female participants consistently produced larger effect sizes, suggesting enhanced perceptual salience and reduced processing demands. Moreover, moderate sample sizes were sufficient to detect meaningful effects, particularly in cross-linguistic comparisons. Analyses confirmed three major findings: (1) Tone height and pitch span critically shaped perceptual accuracy, with high-pitched tones and those with greater pitch span perceived more accurately; (2) Native prosodic background significantly modulated tone perception, with pitch-accent and tone language speakers outperforming non-tonal listeners. However, perceptual assimilation could either facilitate or interfere with tone perception in tone language listeners when similar categories existed in their L1 and the target language; (3) L2 experience was a positive predictor of tone perception accuracy; however, improvements followed a nonlinear, tone-specific trajectory. Tone 2 and Tone 3 remained persistently challenging to differentiate, with substantial progress typically observed only at advanced proficiency levels. Together, these results underscore the complex interplay between acoustic properties, language background, and learning experience in Mandarin tone perception, offering valuable insights for both theoretical modeling and pedagogical practice in second language acquisition.
Summary
Keywords
L2 experience, Meta-analysis, prosodic background, tonal features, Tone perception
Received
22 July 2025
Accepted
22 December 2025
Copyright
© 2025 Cui and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Hong Zhao
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