Experimental Analysis:How Thai Students Use Intonation In Chinese's Non-question Sentences

This study aims to compare the differences in intonation acquisition between Thai and Chinese students in pronouncing three kinds of sentences:declarative sentences;intonation questions;and "ma" questions as well as study its causes.The sample of the study was the group of twelve students,consisting of six Thai students who have studied Chinese for more than five years and six Chinese students who are students of Nankai University.The Thai students were divided into two groups:three male students in one group and three female students in another group.The Chinese students were also divided into two groups using the same method as Thais.First of all,the method of this study was to familiarize each student with the reading materials.According to the order of natural focus statement,intonation,right and wrong question,and "ma" right and wrong question,each student would read aloud at natural and steady speed without emphasizing contrast or emotional color.Each experimental sentence was read three times.Cool Edit software was used to record the voice of students.Secondly,the voice recording of the study sample was measured by mini-Speech-Lab of Tianjin Normal University to obtain the data of pitch,duration and intensity.Consequently,the data were put into the Excel table where the fluctuation of tone range,duration delay,and volume ratio of tone intensity of each student were calculated,using the program's formula.As a result,all the students' voice data were mapped,in which information regarding three groups of sentences' pitch fluctuation map,time delay map,and sound intensity volume ratio map were obtained.Lastly,the results were compared and analyzed to draw a conclusion.The findings indicated some differences between Thai and Chinese students in acquiring Chinese intonation as follows:(1)pitch,up-and-down tone areas:Chinese students' intonation shows an upward trend,while Thai students shows a downward trend;(2)duration:Thai students' monosyllabic verb intonation is longer than that of Chinese students,and the duration of Chinese students' intonation questions is shorter than that of Thai students;and(3)In terms of sound intensity:the intonation of Chinese students' declarative sentences tends to decrease,while there is an increase without borders,while that of Thai students tends to increase.