A study on the effects of nativeness and gender on phonetic convergence in a tape-mediated map task

Abstract

Previous studies examining phonetic convergence in terms of VOT adaptation in shadowing tasks and in interactions have found that such adaptation is highly influenced by social factors as nativeness and gender. Speakers adapted more and produced longer VOTs when the interlocutors’ VOTs were longer (Nielsen, 2011); however, Kim (2011) found that speakers adapted to both non-native and to native interlocutors. Studies focusing on same gender dyads found that female speakers have been found to converge more (Pardo, 2006) whereas Namy et.al (2002) found that male speakers adapted more often. This study assesses the convergence of 26 speakers’ productions of nonwords and words in terms of VOTs in a map task (Pardo, 2006) before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) a tape-mediated interaction (Lumley and O’Sullivan, 2005 ); in particular the effects of interlocutors’ nativeness and gender on speakers’ degree of convergence. Participants’ productions presented large variability which is in line with previous findings (Theodore et al, 2009; Allen, 2003; Pardo, 2006). Results show that the treatment had no effects; as little convergence was found for some but not all of the VOT measurements. Nativeness and gender did not have significant effects on VOT adaptation when the group of participants was considered as a whole, but some phonetic convergence was observed for some of the participants’ productions