一组普通话音位平衡单音节字表的文字编撰

目的编写一组适用于言语识别率测试的音位平衡的单音节测听词表。方法为兼顾测试的可靠性与临床实践中的效率,本课题将简短原则、音位平衡原则、常用字原则、覆盖原则、表间等价性等作为词表编写的主要原则。共设计了30张词表、每张词表包含25个单音节测试项。参照《声学手册》中的汉语音位一维概率分布,计算得到汉语拼音的22个声母(含零声母)、36个韵母、4个声调在30张词表、750个单音节测试项中的分布频次。基于音位平衡原则,通过计算机辅助编程和手动调整,从现代汉语常用字表的一级最常用汉字2500字和常用词表4000词中的单字词表中进行音节编选。结果形成了30张包含声母、韵母、声调在内的音位分配表。选取了489个音节,编撰了30张遵循音位平衡的单音节字表,每张表25字。结论该表文字稿是今后制作汉语音位平衡的单音节语音测试录音材料的基础。     

Essentials of Standard Chinese Phonetics for Prosthetic Dentistry

Speech adaptation after oral rehabilitation is based on a complex interaction of articulatory and myofunctional factors. The knowledge of basic phonetic principles may help clinicians identify phonetic problems associated with prosthodontic treatment. The purpose of this article is to illustrate basic phonetic terminology, standard Chinese (Putonghua) phonetics, and the anatomic structures relevant for dentistry. In cooperation with a Chinese linguistic specialist, Chinese articulators were selected and are described and compared with English phonetics. Established test words and sentences aid the identification of mispronounced articulators and their related dental structures. The pronunciation of most consonants and vowels in standard Chinese is similar to English, but some of them, such as the retropalatals (/zh/ [t?], /ch/ [th?], /sh/ [?]), have notable differences. Palatal consonants (/j/ [t?], /q/ [t?h], /x/ [?]) are unique to the Chinese phonetic system and are not found in English phonetics. The comprehension of the basic anatomic regions involved in Chinese phonetics may help prosthodontists treat patients whose native language is standard Chinese.     

中英文测试材料对正常青年人可接受噪声级影响的研究

目的：用难易程度不同的中文测试材料和英文测试材料进行可接受噪声级（acceptable noise level , ANL）测试,探讨不同测试材料对ANL测试的影响,为汉语普通话测试材料的研发提供参考。方法编制出汉语普通话白话文、文言文和英文三种测试材料,对54例听力正常青年人进行 A N L 测试,分别获得最舒适响度级（most comfortable loudness ,MCL）和最大背景噪声级（background noise level ,BNL）,根据ANL＝ MCL －BNL计算出ANL值,对汉语普通话白话文、文言文和英文三种测试材料测得的ANL值,ANL相关性,MCL、BNL与ANL的相关性及英语理解和表达能力与英文ANL的相关性分别进行统计学分析。结果汉语普通话白话文、文言文和英文三种测试材料测得的A N L值分别为2．61±3．65、1．85±3．69、0．31±3．71 dB ,白话文与文言文、白话文与英文、文言文与英文的ANL均存在统计学差异（均为 P＜0．05）;但三者间 ANL值的差值仅为0．76、2．3和1．54 dB ,均＜3 dB ,无临床意义。白话文与文言文、白话文与英文和文言文与英文测试材料测得的A N L值均呈现明显的相关趋势,r值分别为0．83、0．81和0．86（P＜0．05）。三种测试材料测得的MCL与ANL均无相关关系,r值分别为－0．11、－0．07和－0．08（均为 P＞0．05）,BNL 和 ANL均存在负相关关系,r值分别为－0．61、－0．54和－0．56（均为 P＜0．05）。英语理解能力、英语表达能力与英文A N L值均无相关关系,r值分别为0．04和－0．03（均为 P＞0．05）。结论汉语测试材料的难易程度对ANL值无影响;中文和英文测试材料对ANL值也无影响;受试者对英文的熟悉程度与ANL值无相关性;受试者接受背景噪声的能力越强,其ANL值越小;编制标准的汉语普通话ANL测试材料时需谨慎考虑测试材料的难易程度。     

Novel-word learning deficits in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with specific language impairments

Children with SLI exhibit overall deficits in novel word learning compared to their age-matched peers. However, the manifestation of the word learning difficulty in SLI was not consistent across tasks and the factors affecting the learning performance were not yet determined. Our aim is to examine the extent of word learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI, and to explore the potent influence of existing lexical knowledge on to the word learning process. Preschool children with SLI (n = 37) and typical language development (n = 33) were exposed to novel words for unfamiliar objects embedded in stories. Word learning tasks including the initial mapping and short-term repetitive learning were designed. Results revealed that Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI performed as well as their age-peers in the initial form-meaning mapping task. Their word learning difficulty was only evidently shown in the short-term repetitive learning task under a production demand, and their learning speed was slower than the control group. Children with SLI learned the novel words with a semantic head better in both the initial mapping and repetitive learning tasks. Moderate correlations between stand word learning performances and scores on standardized vocabulary were found after controlling for children's age and nonverbal IQ. The results suggested that the word learning difficulty in children with SLI occurred in the process of establishing a robust phonological representation at the beginning stage of word learning. Also, implicit compound knowledge is applied to aid word learning process for children with and without SLI. We also provide the empirical data to validate the relationship between preschool children's word learning performance and their existing receptive vocabulary ability.     

Evaluation of speech errors in Putonghua speakers with cleft palate: A critical review of methodology issues

Speech errors associated with cleft palate are well established for English and several other Indo-European languages. Few articles describing the speech of Putonghua (standard Mandarin Chinese) speakers with cleft palate have been published in English language journals. Although methodological guidelines have been published for the perceptual speech evaluation of individuals with cleft palate, there has been no critical review of methodological issues in studies of Putonghua speakers with cleft palate. A literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies published over the past 30 years in Chinese language journals. Only studies incorporating perceptual analysis of speech were included. Thirty-seven articles which met inclusion criteria were analyzed and coded on a number of methodological variables. Reliability was established by having all variables recoded for all studies. This critical review identified many methodological issues. These design flaws make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions about characteristic speech errors in this group of speakers. Specific recommendations are made to improve the reliability and validity of future studies, as well to facilitate cross-center comparisons.     

普通话噪声下言语测试在方言人群中的应用

目的:使用普通话版噪声下言语测试材料(mandarinhearinginnoisetest,MHINT),得到听力正常不同方言人群的MHINT测试结果。方法:选择听力正常、母语非普通话受试者82名完成MHINT测试。结果进行统计学分析,并与母语普通话结果进行比较。结果:得到母语非普通话82名受试者的328个结果。母语非普通话受试者和母语普通话受试者之间在安静环境,噪声方位0°、90°、270°的测试结果均差异有统计学意义(均P<0.01);母语非普通话高学历受试者与母语非普通话低学历受试者之间结果差异有统计学意义(P<0.01)。母语非普通话受试者按年龄、讲普通话时间等因素之间测试结果差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:母语非普通话人群进行MHINT测试,与母语普通话人群相比需要更高的言语信号声和信噪比。影响MHINT测试结果的因素有受试者母语是否为普通话以及受试者的文化水平。     

Effects of neonatal oxytocin treatment on aggression and neural activities in mandarin voles

Neonatal manipulation of oxytocin (OT) has long-term effects on behavior and physiology. Here we test the hypothesis that neonatal OT treatment can affect the subsequent expression of intrasexual aggression partly by reprogramming the neural activities of relevant brain regions. To test this hypothesis, mandarin voles (Lasiopodomys mandarinus) received OT or isotonic saline treatment within 24 h of birth. At about 75 days of age, aggressive behaviors and Fos expression in different brain regions were tested. The results indicate that the (1) level of intrasexual aggression was higher and other social contact was lower in SAL-treated sexually na?ve males than in females and; (2) OT-treated females showed a greater increase in aggressive behaviors and Fos expression only after exposure to a male than SAL-treated females, but there were no significant changes in aggressive behaviors in males. These results demonstrate a sexual difference in aggression, and that neonatal exposure to OT may increase aggression in female mandarin voles. These effects may be based on changes in neural activities of relevant brain regions including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), lateral septal nucleus (LS), medial preoptic area (MPOA), the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), supraoptic nucleus (SON), mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD), ventromedial nucleus of hypothalamic (VMH), the medial amygdala (MeA) and central amygdala (CeA).     

Acoustic characteristics of vowels and plosives/affricates of Mandarin-speaking hearing-impaired children

This article presents the results of an acoustic analysis of vowels and plosives/affricates produced by 45 Mandarin-speaking children with hearing impairment. Vowel production is represented and categorized into three groups by vowel space size calculated with normalized F1 and F2 values of corner vowels. The correlation between speech intelligibility and language abilities assessed by the level of word comprehension and the complexity of sentence structure is statistically significant. Vowel space grouping is correlated with speech intelligibility and spike percentage of plosives/affricates production. The generalized linear model analysis also shows that the level of word comprehension and the degree of hearing loss are the two most significant factors in predicting speech intelligibility. The statistical results suggest that the interplay of acoustic characteristic and speech ability is complex.