Dataset, analysis script, and Supplementary Results for the study "The relation between musical abilities and focus prosody in second-language speech production by tone and non-tone language speakers".

Description of the study: Second-language (L2) speakers generally show first-language (L1) influence in L2 prosodic focus marking. In addition, previous research suggests variability in L2 prosody perception and production may relate to musical abilities, with strong musical abilities relating to enhanced prosodic abilities. The present study investigated L2 English prosodic focus marking by L1 Mandarin Chinese and L1 Dutch speakers, and the potential role of musical abilities. In Dutch, like English, focus is marked primarily by a pitch accent, whereas in Mandarin, focus can be marked by a pitch range expansion on the lexical tone. In this study, participants took part in a game where they instructed the experimenter to place cards with coloured items on the table. Trials elicited contrastive focus on either an adjective or noun. Participants performed this task in their L1 and L2, and completed a music perception test. We measured the F0 contours, duration, and intensity of the target words and compared these acoustic cues in speakers’ L1 and L2 productions. Results showed that musical abilities are related to a more target-like L2 focus marking in the L1 Dutch group, specifically regarding the use of falling F0 movements. Musical abilities did not play a clear role in L2 English focus marking in the L1 Mandarin group, which suggests that musical abilities may not play a role if the L2 speakers have an L1 tone-language background, or if there are large prosodic differences between the L1 and L2. These findings thus suggest that the extent to which L2 prosody production is related to individual differences in musical abilities may depend on the prosodic characteristics of the speakers' L1.