Phonetic convergence during conversational interaction and speech shadowing

Abstract

Phonetic convergence has been studied in both speech shadowing tasks and in conversational interaction. In both settings, phonetic convergence has been found to be highly variable, with higher convergence measures usually found in studies that used speech shadowing. In order to examine whether phonetic convergence in both settings arises from similar mechanisms, the current study compared phonetic convergence in both speech shadowing and in paired conversational interaction in the same set of talkers. A set of 96 talkers (48 female) provided shadowed recordings and participated in a paired conversational map task. Moreover, the pairs were constructed to permit comparisons of same- and mixed-sex pairings. Phonetic convergence was assessed in both tasks using AXB perceptual listening tests with naïve listeners. Overall, phonetic convergence was highly variable across pairings in both shadowing and conversational tasks, with interesting effects of talker and pair sex.