1 Introduction

This section introduces the research background of the phonetic accuracy of phonetic components in phono-semantic compound characters, reviews previous studies on the classification of such characters and the measurement of phonetic accuracy from the perspectives of initials, finals, and tones. It points out that past research often relied on subjective criteria and did not fully account for perceptual differences in auditory perception, emphasizing the necessity of conducting auditory discrimination experiments on initials and finals to accurately establish criteria for phonetic accuracy.

2 Experimental Design

This section elaborates on the design process of the auditory perception experiment involving both Chinese and international students, including the selection of participants, preparation of experimental materials, and specific procedures for the experiment. The experiment selected 40 participants, consisting of Chinese and international students, all of whom possessed good hearing and operational abilities. The experimental materials comprised 35 sets of syllables, each containing one reference syllable and two comparison syllables, designed according to specific principles to ensure perceptual similarity. The experiment was programmed using E-Prime software, with randomized playback order to balance potential order effects. The procedure included both practice and formal sessions, where participants judged the similarity between comparison syllables and the reference syllable based on audio stimuli and responded via key presses.

3 Results and Analysis

This section provides a detailed analysis of the auditory perception results from both Chinese and international participants. Independent samples t-tests revealed significant differences in syllable choices between the two groups, with the majority of participants perceiving syllables with identical finals as closer to the original syllable, indicating higher phonetic accuracy of the phonetic components. Further chi-square tests showed that while both groups considered syllables with identical finals closer to the original syllable, Chinese participants exhibited a stronger tendency in their choices.

4 Discussion and Implications

This section discusses the consistencies and differences in the perception of initials and finals between Chinese and international students, and proposes adjustments to the criteria for phonetic accuracy of phonetic components as well as implications for teaching based on the experimental results. The experiment found strong consistency between Chinese and international students in perceiving the similarity of finals, which may be related to factors such as Chinese syllable structure, vowel dominance, and sequential memory. However, Chinese students, due to their native language sensitivity and professional knowledge, demonstrated a stronger inclination in judging syllable similarity. Based on the results, adjustments were made to the phonetic accuracy criteria, emphasizing the importance of finals in phonetic function, and teaching suggestions were proposed, including classifying teaching based on the phonetic accuracy of phonetic components, cultivating students' awareness of using phonetic cues to learn phono-semantic characters, and fostering "orthographic awareness" in Chinese characters.

5 Conclusion

This section summarizes the auditory perception experiment involving Chinese and international students, finding that syllables with identical finals are perceived as more similar in auditory terms than those with identical initials, indicating that finals carry more phonetic information in the phonetic function of phonetic components. Accordingly, it is suggested that in setting criteria for the phonetic accuracy of phono-semantic characters, higher scores should be assigned to syllables with identical finals, and the original phonetic criteria should be modified in an arithmetic progression to enhance awareness of the distinction between initials and finals, providing references for phonologists and dialectologists.