In tune
When learning a second language, it’s not only words and grammar that matter, but also prosody: the melody and rhythm of speech. This ‘musical’ part of language helps us convey meaning and understand each other. Yet languages differ greatly in how they use prosody. For example, Mandarin Chinese uses pitch differences to distinguish word meanings, while Dutch and English mainly use pitch to mark emphasis.
In my PhD research, I investigated whether musical abilities support the understanding and use of prosody in a second language. A study that combined results from previous studies showed that people with stronger musical abilities are generally better at perceiving speech prosody, especially in a new or unfamiliar language. I then examined Dutch and Mandarin Chinese speakers of English as a second language, who took part in a music perception test, a language perception test, and a language production task. I found that Dutch speakers with stronger musical abilities processed English prosody more effectively and also produced it more accurately. For Mandarin speakers, however, musical abilities offered no clear advantage, most likely because their first language differs too much from English in its use of prosody.
These results show that musical abilities can contribute to success in learning a second language, but mainly when the first and second languages are prosodically similar. In short: musical people are sometimes more ‘in tune’ with their second language.