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This research investigates whether Mandarin listeners can perceive lexical stress in European Portuguese despite their native language lacking such contrasts.

August 13, 2026LanguagesOpen Access

Stress Perception in European Portuguese by Naïve Mandarin Listeners

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Authors

KZKexin Zhang JVJoão Veloso

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Overview

Randomized trial reveals modest sensitivity to lexical stress in European Portuguese by native Mandarin listeners, indicating differing prominence cues.

Key Points

This research investigates whether Mandarin listeners can perceive lexical stress in European Portuguese despite their native language lacking such contrasts.
Twenty native Mandarin listeners with no Portuguese knowledge participated.
Listeners identified the most prominent syllable in 30 trisyllabic European Portuguese words.
Responses were analyzed for accuracy and predictors of prominence, focusing on duration, syllable weight, F0, and intensity.
Overall accuracy was 46.9%, significantly above chance (33.3%), predominantly driven by initial syllable stress.
Relative duration was identified as a reliable predictor of listener responses, with syllable weight also contributing.
Listeners showed a marked preference for initial syllables, disregarding F0 and intensity, which are less relevant in Mandarin.

Cite This Study

Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a7d768a2b0e0cff3f63fe2f https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11080167

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August 13, 2026LanguagesOpen Access

Stress Perception in European Portuguese by Naïve Mandarin Listeners

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

KZKexin Zhang JVJoão Veloso

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Randomized trial reveals modest sensitivity to lexical stress in European Portuguese by native Mandarin listeners, indicating differing prominence cues.

Key Points

This research investigates whether Mandarin listeners can perceive lexical stress in European Portuguese despite their native language lacking such contrasts.
Twenty native Mandarin listeners with no Portuguese knowledge participated.
Listeners identified the most prominent syllable in 30 trisyllabic European Portuguese words.
Responses were analyzed for accuracy and predictors of prominence, focusing on duration, syllable weight, F0, and intensity.
Overall accuracy was 46.9%, significantly above chance (33.3%), predominantly driven by initial syllable stress.
Relative duration was identified as a reliable predictor of listener responses, with syllable weight also contributing.
Listeners showed a marked preference for initial syllables, disregarding F0 and intensity, which are less relevant in Mandarin.

Cite This Study

Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a7d768a2b0e0cff3f63fe2f https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11080167

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