Phonetic convergence and talker sex: It’s complicated

Abstract

Investigations of phonetic convergence report conflicting results with respect to talker sex. Some studies report that females converge to a greater degree than males, while others find no difference or the opposite pattern. These discrepancies frustrate attempts to characterize the impact of talker sex on phonetic variation and convergence in a straightforward manor. The current investigation reveals that talker sex interacts with other variables, both lexical and phonological. A set of 92 talkers (47 females) shadowed monosyllabic words that manipulated word frequency within eight vowels. Phonetic convergence was assessed in an AXB perceptual similarity task and in F1 x F2 vowel space. Convergence in F1 x F2 vowel space did not differ between males and females on average, but female talkers converged to front vowels (/i/, /ɛi/, /ɛ/, /æ/) more than to back vowels (/ɑ/, /ou/, /ʊ/, /u/), and male talkers showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, higher vowels (/i/, /ɛi/, /ʊ/, and /u/) showed the largest differences in convergence between men and women. These patterns were largely driven by convergence on F2 alone. These findings relate to broader sociolinguistic concerns about the impact of gender on phonetic variation and sound change.