Production of L2 Mandarin Mono- and Di-syllabic Tones by Kazakh Learners of Different Levels

The acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones is difficult for Kazakh learners. Previous researches were mainly cross-sectional studies, while a few developmental studies. In the study, we investigated the performance of tones produced by Kazakh learners (n=20) of three levels, including 6,090 monosyllabic tones and 4740 disyllabic tone pairs. Results showed that: 1) in monosyllables, learners improved their pronunciation of T1& T4 faster than T2&T3. 2) the disyllables with T1 or T2 in final-position are often mispronounced as T3T1, and with T4 in final-position are mispronounced as T3T4. The systematical substitutions of tone pairs revealed the influence of Kazakh stress patterns. Besides, from the development process of tone productions, other universals, like The Tonal Markness Scale, may also play a significant role in explaining L2 acquisition difficulties.