本研究探討中文母語使用者對英語字重音的感知，以及重音感知與純音感知兩者間的關聯。研究參與者為兩組英文程度不同的中文母語使用者和一組英文母語使用者，每位參與者皆須參加重音辨別測驗以及純音辨別測驗。此研究使用一個雙音節的虛構詞來進行重音辨別測驗。此虛構詞有名詞以及動詞兩種形式。名詞的重音在第一音節，動詞的重音在第二音節。名詞和動詞的重音音節皆經過後製，使得參與者每次聽到的重音音節都不太一樣。重音音節的後製是針對基礎頻率、持續時間以及音量三方面來進行調整。參與者必須回答他們每一次聽到的重音位置，作答時必須使用「五點李克特量尺」(five-point Likert scale)來回答他們確定的程度。進行純音辨別測驗時，參與者每次會聽到兩個純音，這些純音的在基礎頻率、持續時間以及音量三方面的變化與虛構詞的動詞及名詞形式相同。參與者必須判別每次聽到的兩個純音是否相同，作答時必須使用「三點李克特量尺」(three-point Likert scale)來回答他們確定的程度。
本研究發現英語母語使用以及中文母語使用者的重音感知並沒有明顯的差異，而兩組中文母語使用者的重音感知也沒有明顯的差異。三組參與者都是利用基礎頻率來判別名詞的重音，而動詞的重音則都是利用持續時間來判別。被用來判別重音的聲學特徵都是最明顯的聲學特徵。在本研究的名詞裡，最明顯的聲學特徵是基礎頻率，而在本研究的動詞裡，最明顯的聲學特徵是持續時間。本研究也發現參與者利用基礎頻率和持續時間來判別兩個純音是否相同。在純音感知方面的表現和在重音感知方面的表現有些類似之處：在辨別名詞的重音以及辨別與名詞類似的純音時，基礎頻率都是較為重要的聲學特徵，而在辨別動詞的重音以及辨別與動詞類似的純音時，持續時間都是較為重要的聲學特徵。這些純音感知與重音感知兩者間的類似之處意味著兩者或許相關。另外，本研究也發現英語母語使用者在判別重音時，顯得較不確定，而能有這項發現是因為本研究使用「李克特量尺」(Likert scale)來進行測驗。除此之外，本研究也發現，進行重音辨別測驗時，在聽過基礎頻率、持續時間以及音量三方面的變化組合後，參與者顯得對重音判別變得更加確定。

This study examined Mandarin speakers’ perception of English lexical stress and the relation between stress perception and pure tone perception. One group of native English speakers and two groups of Mandarin speakers with two different English proficiency levels were asked to take a stress perception test and a pure tone perception test. A disyllabic nonsense word was pronounced as a noun form with stress on the first syllable and as a verb form with stress on the second syllable. The two forms were synthesized into tokens varying in F0, duration and amplitude in the stressed syllable.
In the stress perception test, the participants were required to locate the stress of the token they heard each time. The participants had to respond on a five-point Likert-scale based on their certainty about the location of the stress. In the pure tone perception test, each time, one pattern consisting of two pure tones was played to the participant. The pure tone patterns were synthesized to vary in F0, duration and amplitude in the way similar to the noun and verb forms of the nonsense word. The participants had to respond on a three-point Likert scale based on their certainty about the difference between the two tones.
It was found that the Mandarin speakers’ use of acoustic cues for stress did not differ from English speakers. The two groups of Mandarin speakers with different English proficiency levels also did not differ in their use of acoustic cues for stress. The participants used F0 as a cue for stress in noun and duration as a cue in verb. It appeared that among the three acoustic cues (i.e., F0, duration and amplitude), the cue used for stress perception were the most salient one. F0 was the most salient cue in the noun form, while duration was the most salient one in the verb form. In the pure tone perception test, the three groups used both F0 and duration as cues for both sets of pure tones (i.e., one set synthesized based on the noun form and the other based on the verb form). Some similarities were found between pure tone perception and stress perception. In the perception of the noun and that of the pure tones synthesized based on the noun, F0 was a more important acoustic cue than duration. In the perception of the verb and that of the pure tones synthesized based on the verb, duration was a more important acoustic cue than F0. The similarities between pure tone perception and stress perception indicate that pure tone perception might be related to stress perception. In addition to the major findings above, this study has also found that English speakers tended to be less certain about their stress perception in an experimental scenario, which was revealed by the Likert scale test adopted in this study. In addition, it was found that the exposure to stress patterns varying in F0, duration and amplitude might facilitate stress perception.

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