Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University, 1712 Neil Avenue, Columbus Ohio 43210, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2020 Jan;147(1):671. doi: 10.1121/10.0000555.
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.
语音趋同具有语言和社会的选择性。本研究在单词跟读任务中，考察了非南方美国人向南方美国英语趋同的选择性限制。参与者被要求在主体间设计中，分别跟读模型说话者、肯塔基州路易斯维尔的模型说话者，或模仿路易斯维尔的模型说话者说话的方式跟读单词。对参与者产生的语音进行声学分析表明，在所有三种指令条件下，单词持续时间和后元音向前移动都有显著的语音趋同，但/aɪ/单音化没有趋同。这些发现表明存在社会选择性，即避免趋同于刻板变体，但会趋同于非传统变体的说话者。对趋同的感知评估证实了声学结果，但也显示出在明确模仿条件下的趋同明显多于两种重复条件。这些发现表明，明确的模仿指令会导致整体趋同程度更高，但并不能完全覆盖社会选择性。对趋同的声学和感知评估进行比较表明，它们分别为趋同的特定特征和整体模式提供了互补的见解。
