The comparative effects of Cantonese and Mandarin tone language backgrounds on musical pitch perception

Existing studies on language-to-music language transfer suggest that tone language background enhances musical pitch perception. However, tone language background was underrepresented as a binary yes-or-no variable in these studies. To extend the previous studies, we investigated the comparative effects of Cantonese and Mandarin language backgrounds on musical pitch perception. Forty-eight native Cantonese and Mandarin listeners were tested on static musical pitch, musical pitch interval, and dynamic musical pitch discrimination. Overall, the Cantonese listeners outperformed the Mandarin listeners in terms of sensitivity index and accuracy but not response time. The results indicate that Cantonese listeners exhibit superior abilities in discriminating static and dynamic musical pitch compared to Mandarin listeners. From a theoretical perspective, these results provide nuanced evidence for language-to-music transfer, indicating that different tone language backgrounds may enhance musical pitch perception to differing degrees. Additionally, the findings support the bi-directional OPERA hypothesis and motivate future studies to theoretically account for language-to-music transfer.