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Does imitation facilitate word recognition in a non-native regional accent?
Noël Nguyen1, Sophie Dufour, Angèle Brunellière
1UMR 7309, Laboratoire Parole et Langage, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université Aix-en-Provence, France.
Frontiers in Psychology
|November 20, 2012
Summary
Phonetic convergence aids word repetition but not single-word recognition. Speakers adapt to new accents in production, yet their native phonemic system still dominates word identification.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Phonetics
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Phonetic convergence, where speakers unconsciously adjust their speech to match others, is known to aid communication.
- However, its precise role in word recognition, especially across different regional accents, requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent to which phonetic convergence influences subsequent word recognition.
- To examine how native accent biases affect perceptual adaptation to non-native accents.
Main Methods:
- A word repetition task was used with Northern-French participants.
- Participants' recognition of single words was tested, considering their native accent's phonemic system.
Main Results:
- A significant phonetic convergence effect was observed towards a Southern French accent in the repetition task.
- Participants showed a strong bias towards their native Northern French phonemic system when identifying single words.
- Perceptual adaptation was hindered when a native phonemic contrast mapped to a single category in the non-native accent.
Conclusions:
- Phonetic convergence in production does not guarantee a shift in native accent dominance during word identification.
- While imitation may aid sentence processing in noisy conditions, its role in single-word recognition appears limited.
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