Phonetic Convergence Research Articles

Effects of dialect-specific features and familiarity on cross-dialect phonetic convergence

Talkers imitate the speech of others through phonetic convergence. The current study examined the influence of dialect-specific features and dialect familiarity on the extent and perceptibility of phonetic convergence. Talkers with Mid-Atlantic and General American dialects repeated words after model talkers with Mid-Atlantic and General American dialects in a shadowing task. Half of the target words contained phonetic variables differing between the two dialects, including /ɔ/, /æɹ/, and word-initial /stɹ/, and half contained no distinguishing dialect features. In an AXB task, listeners from the Mid-Atlantic region with greater exposure to the Mid-Atlantic dialect and listeners from the Midwestern United States with less exposure to the Mid-Atlantic dialect assessed the perceptual similarity of the two shadowing productions to the original productions of the model talkers. Together, acoustic analyses of the shadowing productions and the results of the AXB task revealed that dialect-specific features facilitated phonetic convergence. This facilitation was stronger for Mid-Atlantic shadowers and model talkers, suggesting that dialect familiarity increases the magnitude of convergence in speech production. However, no differences were observed between listener groups, indicating that greater experience with a dialect may not affect the perception of phonetic convergence.

Interlocutor accommodation of gradually altered nasal signal levels in a model speaker.

Phonetic accommodation is observed when interacting speakers gradually converge (or diverge) on phonetic features over the course of a conversation. The present experiment investigated whether gradual changes in the nasal signal levels of a pre-recorded model speaker would lead to accommodation in the nasalance scores of the interlocutor in a speech-shadowing experiment. Twenty female speakers in two groups repeated sentences after a pre-recorded model speaker whose nasal signal level was gradually increased or decreased over the course of the experiment. Outcome measures were the mean nasalance scores at the initial baseline, maximum nasal signal level, minimum nasal signal level and final baseline conditions. The order of presentation of the maximum and minimum nasal signal levels was varied between the two groups. The results showed a significant effect of condition in F(3)=2.86, p=0.045. Both groups of participants demonstrated lower nasalance scores in response to increased nasal signal levels in the model (phonetic divergence). The group that was first presented with the maximum nasal signal levels demonstrated lower nasalance scores for the minimum nasal signal level condition (phonetic convergence). Speakers showed a consistent divergent reaction to a more nasal-sounding model speaker, but their response to a less nasal-sounding model may depend on the order of presentation of the manipulations. More research is needed to investigate the effects of increased versus decreased nasality in the speech of an interlocutor.

The acoustic realization of language-specific phonological categories despite dynamic cross-linguistic influence in bilingual and trilingual speech.

The present study examines the acoustic realization of the English, Japanese, and Spanish /k/ in the productions of two groups of English-Japanese bilinguals [first language (L1) English-second language (L2) Japanese and L1 Japanese-L2 English] and one trilingual group [L1 Spanish-L2 English-third language (L3) Japanese]. With the analysis of voice onset time (VOT) as a proxy for the degree of cross-linguistic influence in each language, this experiment compares the production patterns of L2 and L3 learners of Japanese and explores the effects of language mode and cognate status on the speech patterns in each of the languages of these bilingual and trilingual individuals. By manipulating the degree of activation of the target and non-target language(s) with the use of cognates and non-cognates in monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual experimental sessions, this study investigates static as well as transient phonetic influence. Even though these bilingual and trilingual speakers produce language-specific VOT patterns for each language, the acoustic analyses also reveal evidence of phonetic convergence as a result of language mode and cognate status. These results show that trilingual speakers are able to maintain language-specific phonological categories in their L1, L2, and L3, overcoming long-term (static) traces of one language influencing the other, despite evidence of short-term (dynamic) cross-linguistic influence.

Phonetic convergence in the shadowing for natural and synthesized speech in Polish

Abstract The matter of shadowing natural speech has been discussed in many studies and papers. However, there is very little knowledge of human phonetical convergence to synthesized speech. To find out more about this issue an experiment in the Polish language was conducted. Two types of stimuli were used – natural speech and synthesised speech. Five sets of sentences with various phonetic phenomena in Polish were prepared. A group of twenty persons were recorded which gave the total number of 100 samples for each phenomenon. The summary of results shows convergence in both natural and synthesised speech in set number 1, 2, 4 while in group 3 and 5 the convergence was not observed. The baseline production shown that the great majority of participants prefer ɛn/ɛm version of phonetic feature which was reflected in 83 out of 100 sentences. In the shadowing natural speech participants changed ɛn/ɛm to ɛw/ɛ̃ in 26 cases and in 4 ɛw/ɛ̃ to ɛn/ɛm. When shadowing synthesised speech shift from ɛn/ɛm to ɛw/ɛ̃ in 18 sentences and 4 from ɛw/ɛ̃ to ɛn/ɛm. The intonation convergence was also observed in the perceptual analysis, however the analysis of F0 statistics did not show statistically significant differences.

Effects of word-frequency and social evaluation on phonetic accommodation

Phonetic convergence between interlocutors is posited as a mechanism for long-term phonetic change (Pardo, 2006). This hypothesis requires that more frequent exposure to a phonetic variant increases the likelihood a speaker adopts said variant in their own speech. Certain instances of historical language change have, however, been theorized to represent divergence from, rather than convergence to, the speech patterns of an incoming group (Van Herk, 2008). We present the results of an artificial language learning experiment designed to investigate how social knowledge may mitigate frequency effects on phonetic convergence. Participants were exposed to nonce words produced by two speakers who differed systematically in their productions of front vowels. Participants in the experimental condition were informed that one speaker was a “native,” speaker of the language and an experienced teacher, while the other was a non-native speaker. The proportional frequency with which each speaker was heard varied across conditions. Subjects' own productions of the words were recorded after exposure. Results show an interaction between frequency and social bias. Test productions moved towards the socially upweighted, less frequent variant, but not to the same extent as one that was both upweighted and more frequent.

Exploring the effects of phonetic overlap and background noise on incremental processing in children

In everyday conversation, individuals actively process speech in order to comprehend and respond in real-time. As a word unfolds, listeners activate possible lexical candidates and actively determine the target word as soon as possible. This process requires knowledge of one's native spoken language and the ability to recognize individual phonemes. Phonetic overlap between the target and candidate words can influence the speed of lexical access. For example, phonological onset (e.g., candy), but not rhyming words (e.g., sandal), can yield lexical competition with target words (e.g., candle). When the auditory input is spectrally degraded, however, the effect is different: rhyme words have greater lexical competition with target words. The purpose of the present study is to test the extent to which rhyme words compete with target words in the present of background noise. In a visual world paradigm, the present study examines the time course of spoken word recognition when target words (e.g., candle) are contrasted with full (e.g., sandal) and offset (e.g., poodle) rhymes in 5-to-7-year-olds. Target words are presented in both quiet and in steady-state speech-shaped noise at 0 dB SNR. Preliminary data suggest that rhyming overlap does not impact processing in quiet but may show differences in noise.

Phonetic Convergence and Divergence in the Seoul dialect

This study examines whether the lexical pitch accent of the Kyungsang dialect and /wɑ/ monophthongization are imitated by Seoul dialect speakers in an auditory naming task. The goal of the study relates to what is imitated in the phonetic signal. To answer this question, the study examines how relative salience between two linguistic features affects phonetic accommodation. Fifty words as produced by a speaker of the Kyungsang dialect served as stimuli for a shadowing task. The first and second formants of disyllabic words containing the diphthong /wɑ/ and the F0 of disyllabic words with the HL tone were acoustically analyzed for phonetic accommodation. Overall, the results suggest that in terms of the diphthong /wɑ/, participants were more likely to converge toward the Kyungsang model talker, producing their vowel as more monothongized. With respect to the lexical pitch accent, participants were less likely to converge to the model talker, producing the target words with the same tone.

Exploring the effects of phonetic overlap and background noise on incremental processing in children

Exploring the effects of phonetic overlap and background noise on incremental processing in children

Speaking to a common tune: Between-speaker convergence in voice fundamental frequency in a joint speech production task.

Recent research on speech communication has revealed a tendency for speakers to imitate at least some of the characteristics of their interlocutor's speech sound shape. This phenomenon, referred to as phonetic convergence, entails a moment-to-moment adaptation of the speaker's speech targets to the perceived interlocutor's speech. It is thought to contribute to setting up a conversational common ground between speakers and to facilitate mutual understanding. However, it remains uncertain to what extent phonetic convergence occurs in voice fundamental frequency (F0), in spite of the major role played by pitch, F0's perceptual correlate, as a conveyor of both linguistic information and communicative cues associated with the speaker's social/individual identity and emotional state. In the present work, we investigated to what extent two speakers converge towards each other with respect to variations in F0 in a scripted dialogue. Pairs of speakers jointly performed a speech production task, in which they were asked to alternately read aloud a written story divided into a sequence of short reading turns. We devised an experimental set-up that allowed us to manipulate the speakers' F0 in real time across turns. We found that speakers tended to imitate each other's changes in F0 across turns that were both limited in amplitude and spread over large temporal intervals. This shows that, at the perceptual level, speakers monitor slow-varying movements in their partner's F0 with high accuracy and, at the production level, that speakers exert a very fine-tuned control on their laryngeal vibrator in order to imitate these F0 variations. Remarkably, F0 convergence across turns was found to occur in spite of the large melodic variations typically associated with reading turns. Our study sheds new light on speakers' perceptual tracking of F0 in speech processing, and the impact of this perceptual tracking on speech production.

The Effects of Home Language and Bilingualism on the Realization of Lexical Stress in Welsh and Welsh English.

This study investigates effects of long-term language contact and individual linguistic experience on the realization of lexical stress correlates in Welsh and Welsh English. To this end, a production study was carried out in which participants were asked to read out Welsh and English disyllabic words with stress on the penultimate syllable, placed within carrier phrases. Recordings were made of the productions of Welsh and English target words, by two groups of Welsh-English bilinguals differing in home language, as well as the productions of English target words by Welsh English monolinguals and speakers of Southern Standard British English (SSBE). Acoustic measures were taken of fundamental frequency (f0) and intensity ratios of stressed and unstressed vowels, duration of stressed and unstressed vowels, and duration of the post-stress consonant. The results of acoustic comparisons of Welsh English with SSBE and Welsh revealed that SSBE differs from the other groups in all measures of lexical stress. Welsh and Welsh English, however, show considerable phonetic overlap, albeit with language-specific differences in two of the five measures (unstressed vowel duration, intensity ratio). These findings suggest cross-language convergence in the realization of lexical stress in Welsh and Welsh English disyllabic words with penultimate stress. Individual linguistic experience, in turn, did not play a major role in the realization of lexical stress in these words. Bilinguals did not differ from monolinguals when speaking English, and home language also had no effect on any measure. This suggests that other factors must be responsible for the observed patterns. We discuss the possibility that the varieties of Welsh and Welsh English spoken in this community function as a sign of regional or peer group identity, rather than as markers of linguistic experience.

Phonetic convergence to Southern American English: Acoustics and perception

Phonetic convergence is linguistically and socially selective. The current study examined the constraints on this selectivity in convergence to Southern American English by non-Southern Americans in a word shadowing task. Participants were asked either to repeat the words after the model talker, to repeat the words after the model talker from Louisville, KY, or to imitate the way the model talker from Louisville, KY, said the words, in a between-subject design. Acoustic analysis of the participants' productions revealed significant phonetic convergence on word duration and back vowel fronting, but not on /aɪ/ monophthongization, across all three instruction conditions. These findings suggest social selectivity such that convergence on stereotyped variants is avoided, but convergence to a talker with a non-prestigious variety is not. A perceptual assessment of convergence confirmed the acoustic results, but also revealed significantly more convergence in the explicit imitation condition than in the two repetition conditions. These findings suggest that explicit instructions to imitate lead to greater convergence overall, but do not completely override social selectivity. A comparison of the acoustic and perceptual assessments of convergence indicates that they provide complementary insights into specific features and holistic patterns of convergence, respectively.

Phonetic Convergence in one Southeastern Part of Lithuania

The present article addresses the principal phonetic phenomena of the languages used in borderland areas and their interaction. It analyzes of dialectological and sociolinguistic material collected from the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century from three points in the Šalčininkai district. It analyzes the phonetic convergence of the dominating local language varieties — Belarusian, Polish and Lithuanian — and establishes the tendencies of this process. The situations of natural communication in the context of code-switching are analyzed in the study: when the speakers are fluent and use several languages at the same time by actively switching between them in conversations.
 The research is, based on the theory proposed by Valerijus Čekmonas, the researcher of the interaction of languages and Slavicist: the speaker switches between languages according to certain rules, which can be described by algorithms. Based on this method of algorithms, the study reveals the phonetic tendencies and proves a very important role and influence of the now passively used Lithuanian language on the articulation of contemporary Slavic languages.The research showed that the reasons of convergence of phonetic phenomena of the language varieties functioning in the borderland areas are mainly sociolinguistic. After comparing the phonetic peculiarities of local Polish and Belarusian dialects, it turned out that the phonetics of both dialects is essentially the same. The informants pronounce the soft consonants used in the local Lithuanian dialect in the same way as they are pronounced when speaking local Slavic dialects. The cases, which are not typical of Belarusian and Polish dialects, when consonants are intensively confused, were recorded; it is likely a feature of the Lithuanian substratum.

Phonetic Convergence, Language Talent, Personality and Attention

Studies into phonetic adaptation rarely consider individual differences (IDs) on a cognitive and personality level between speakers as a direct source of adaptation variation. In order to investigate the degree to which the individual phonetic talent and further psycho-cognitive IDs of speakers affects phonetic convergence in a second language setting, 20 German native speakers were involved in two dialog tasks with two native speakers of English, a male speaker of American English and a female speaker of Standard Southern British English. The dialogs were quasi-spontaneous task-oriented interactions elicited with the Diapix picture-matching game. The English L2 learners were divided into a phonetically talented and less talented group based on their test results and evaluation in a preceding extensive language talent test battery. The acoustic analyses using amplitude envelopes revealed that talented speakers converged significantly more towards their English native speaking partners in the Diapix study. An additional analysis relates their degree of convergence to a range of personality and cognitive measures. The factors openness, neuroticism, Behavior Inhibition score and the switch costs in a Simon Test were significantly impacting the degree of phonetic convergence in the dialog study.

Phonetic convergence and divergence in the American Midwest

The magnitude of phonetic convergence in word shadowing is affected by phonetic factors, including the shadowers’ phonetic distance from the model talker, and social factors, including the perceived prestige of the model talker’s variety. The current study explored the effects of these factors on phonetic convergence to the Northern dialect of American English by shadowers from the Midwestern United States. The shadowers read a set of target words to provide their baseline productions and then repeated the same target words after a native speaker of the Northern dialect. The target words contained stressed vowels that are phonetically shifted in the Northern dialect relative to other American English varieties. Phonetic convergence in word duration and vowel formant frequencies was observed for some vowel categories but not others. This phonetic selectivity was not driven by the acoustic distance between the shadowers’ baseline productions and the model talker’s productions. Phonetic convergence in word duration and vowel formant frequencies also varied depending on whether or not the shadowers were told where the model talker was from, leading to divergence for some dialect-specific features in the shadowing task. These findings provide additional evidence for the roles of phonetic and social factors in phonetic convergence. The magnitude of phonetic convergence in word shadowing is affected by phonetic factors, including the shadowers’ phonetic distance from the model talker, and social factors, including the perceived prestige of the model talker’s variety. The current study explored the effects of these factors on phonetic convergence to the Northern dialect of American English by shadowers from the Midwestern United States. The shadowers read a set of target words to provide their baseline productions and then repeated the same target words after a native speaker of the Northern dialect. The target words contained stressed vowels that are phonetically shifted in the Northern dialect relative to other American English varieties. Phonetic convergence in word duration and vowel formant frequencies was observed for some vowel categories but not others. This phonetic selectivity was not driven by the acoustic distance between the shadowers’ baseline productions and the model talker’s productions. Phonetic convergence in word d...

Increased language co-activation leads to enhanced cross-linguistic phonetic convergence

Purpose: This study investigates the effects of bilingual language modes (or settings) on the speech production patterns of a group of early Catalan/Spanish bilinguals from Majorca, Spain. Our main research question was as follows: are bilingual speech patterns modulated by the level of (co-)activation of a bilingual’s two languages? Design: Bilingual participants were classified as a function of their linguistic experience (or dominance), from Catalan- to Spanish-dominant. Subsequently, we recorded their speech in two experimental settings: a unilingual setting in which only Catalan words were uttered, and a bilingual setting in which both Catalan and Spanish words (cognates) were produced in random order. Data and analysis: The study examined the acoustic realization of Spanish and Catalan unstressed /a/, which surfaces as [a] in Spanish but is reduced to schwa, [ə], in Catalan. The acoustic characteristics of unstressed /a/ were explored across the two languages and the two experimental settings. Findings: Catalan unstressed /a/, which was similarly reduced to schwa in the speech of all participants, became slightly more similar to Spanish unstressed /a/ (i.e., it had a higher first formant) when produced alongside Spanish words (bilingual setting) than when produced in a Catalan unilingual setting. There were no effects of linguistic experience, and the effects of setting did not interact with experience. Originality: Very few studies have reported the effects of dynamic cross-linguistic interference in phonetic production, and even fewer have reported them with a phonetic variable resulting from a language-specific phonological process (unstressed vowel reduction) rather than a phonemic contrast. Implications: These findings suggest that cross-linguistic interaction is dynamic and modulated by language activation, and that an absence of dominance effects does not necessarily entail an absence of online cross-linguistic phonetic influence.

Associating the origin and spread of sound change using agent-based modelling applied to /s/-retraction in English

The study explored whether an asymmetric phonetic overlap between speech sounds could be turned into sound change through propagation around a community of speakers. The focus was on the change of /s/ to /ʃ/ which is known to be more likely than a change in the other direction both synchronically and diachronically. An agent-based model was used to test the prediction that communication between agents would advance /s/-retraction in /str/ clusters (e.g. string). There was one agent per speaker and the probabilistic mapping between words, phonological classes, and speech signals could be updated during communication depending on whether an agent listener absorbed an incoming speech signal from an agent talker into memory. Followinginteraction, sibilants in /str/ clusters were less likely to share a phonological class with prevocalic /s/ and were acoustically closer to /ʃ/. The findings lend support to the idea that sound change is the outcome of a fortuitous combination of the relative size and orientation of phonetic distributions, their association to phonological classes, and how these types of information vary between speakers that happen to interact with each other.

Immediate phonetic convergence in a cue-distractor paradigm.

During a cue-distractor task, participants repeatedly produce syllables prompted by visual cues. Distractor syllables are presented to participants via headphones 150 ms after the visual cue (before any response). The task has been used to demonstrate perceptuomotor integration effects (perception effects on production): response times (RTs) speed up as the distractor shares more phonetic properties with the response. Here it is demonstrated that perceptuomotor integration is not limited to RTs. Voice Onset Times (VOTs) of the distractor syllables were systematically varied and their impact on responses was measured. Results demonstrate trial-specific convergence of response syllables to VOT values of distractor syllables.

Accommodation of L2 Speech in a Repetition Task: Exploring Paralinguistic Imitation

Phonetic convergence is the process by which a speaker adapts his/her speech to sound more similar to his/her interlocutor. While most studies analysing this process have been conducted amongst speakers sharing the same language or variety, this experiment focuses on imitation between non-native and native speakers in a repetition task. The data is a fragment from the ANGLISH corpus designed by Anne Tortel (Tortel, 2008). 40 French speakers (10 male intermediate, 10 male advanced, 10 female intermediate and 10 female advanced learners) were asked to repeat a set of 20 sentences produced by British native speakers. Segmental (vowel quality), suprasegmental (vowel duration) and voice quality were analysed. Level of proficiency, gender and model talker were taken as independent variables. Level appeared not to be a relevant parameter due to a high amount of inter-individual variability amongst groups. Somewhat contradictory results were observed for vowel duration and F1-F2 distance for male learners converged more than female learners. Our hypothesis that low vowels display a higher degree of imitation, and especially within the F1 dimension (Babel, 2012), was partially validated. Convergence in vowel duration in order to sound more native-like was also observed (Zając, 2013). Regarding the analysis of voice quality, and more particularly of creaky voice, observations suggest that some advanced female learners creaked more than the native speakers and more in the reading task, which indicate, both linguistic idiosyncrasy and accommodation towards the native speakers. Low vowels seem also to be more likely to be produced with a creaky voice, especially at the end of prosodic constituents.

The neural oscillatory markers of phonetic convergence during verbal interaction.

During a conversation, the neural processes supporting speech production and perception overlap in time and, based on context, expectations and the dynamics of interaction, they are also continuously modulated in real time. Recently, the growing interest in the neural dynamics underlying interactive tasks, in particular in the language domain, has mainly tackled the temporal aspects of turn-taking in dialogs. Besides temporal coordination, an under-investigated phenomenon is the implicit convergence of the speakers toward a shared phonetic space. Here, we used dual electroencephalography (dual-EEG) to record brain signals from subjects involved in a relatively constrained interactive task where they were asked to take turns in chaining words according to a phonetic rhyming rule. We quantified participants' initial phonetic fingerprints and tracked their phonetic convergence during the interaction via a robust and automatic speaker verification technique. Results show that phonetic convergence is associated to left frontal alpha/low-beta desynchronization during speech preparation and by high-beta suppression before and during listening to speech in right centro-parietal and left frontal sectors, respectively. By this work, we provide evidence that mutual adaptation of speech phonetic targets, correlates with specific alpha and beta oscillatory dynamics. Alpha and beta oscillatory dynamics may index the coordination of the "when" as well as the "how" speech interaction takes place, reinforcing the suggestion that perception and production processes are highly interdependent and co-constructed during a conversation.

Asymmetrical interlingual influence in the production of Spanish and English laterals as a result of competing activation in bilingual language processing

This study examines the phonetic and phonological knowledge of Spanish and English /l/ by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals along a continuum of language dominance. Forty early Spanish-English bilinguals, divided into groups as a function of their immigrant generation (G1.5, G2, G3), and twenty L2 Spanish learners produced word-initial and word-final laterals in three separate sessions: monolingual Spanish session, monolingual English session, and bilingual Spanish/English session. Results indicate that all participants acquired the phonetic and allophonic characteristics of the lateral variants in each language, and that language dominance strongly predicts these bilinguals’ acoustic realization of Spanish and English laterals. The acoustic analyses reveal phonetic convergence as a result of language mode, but it is especially the laterals in the non-dominant language that are altered in bilingual mode. This study provides evidence of language dominance effects on the acoustic realization of Spanish and English laterals, and demonstrates the impact of language mode on the phonetic abilities of early and late bilinguals. It is proposed that a model of bilingual processing based on the principles of episodic frameworks, in which exemplars in a bilingual lexicon develop connections across languages and lexical processing activates the words of both languages non-selectively, can explain these findings.