Comparing Phonetic Convergence in Children and Adults.

Area of Science:

• Sociolinguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Phonetics

Background:

• Sociolinguistic observations suggest children adopt new accents faster than adults.
• Laboratory studies comparing age-related speech imitation are limited.
• Previous research indicates children may show stronger imitation for familiar accents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally compare speech imitation abilities in children and adults.
• To investigate the influence of speaker accent on imitation.
• To examine imitation differences between immediate and delayed shadowing paradigms.

Main Methods:

• Canadian English-speaking children and adults participated in two experiments.
• Participants were exposed to three model speakers: Canadian English, Australian English, and Mandarin English.
• Speech imitation was measured by voice onset time (VOT) changes in immediate and delayed shadowing tasks.

Main Results:

• No significant age differences in speech imitation were observed.
• In immediate shadowing, both children and adults imitated the Mandarin-accented speaker more than the Canadian speaker.
• No imitation effects were found in the delayed shadowing task.

Conclusions:

• Speech imitation development may not differ significantly between children and adults.
• Accent familiarity did not predict imitation as hypothesized; non-native accents may elicit stronger imitation.
• The effectiveness of speech imitation is dependent on the task paradigm, with immediate shadowing being more sensitive.