Browsing by Author "Lewandowski, Natalie"

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Open Access
Talent in nonnative phonetic convergence
(2012) Lewandowski, Natalie; Dogil, Grzegorz (Prof. Dr.)
The presented study analyzes the influence of the factor "talent" on phonetic convergence in nonnative interactions. Phonetic convergence occurs when two speakers become more similar in their segemental and suprasegmental pronunciation. Summarizing the findings about the influence of talent on nonnative convergence leads to the assumption that convergence is the default tendency for natural communicative interaction, with talent probably influencing its core mechanisms, causing significant differences to arise between phonetically talented and less talented speakers. Apart from talent, convergence is also very likely influenced by other individual factors, such as personality and psychological features, the need for social approval and other social and contextual factors determining the communicative situation. Gender, on the other hand, was not shown to have any influence on the level of convergence displayed in the dialog task, nor did it modulate the behavior in the read speech tasks. The occurrence of convergence has proved to be strongly tied to the existence of a direct communicative interaction, since its effects could neither be confirmed for the summary part of the main experimental task, nor for the read speech pre- and post-test. Thus, no carry-over to speech styles other than dialog could be found. This implies that studies investigating spontaneous speech phenomena should also take place in spontaneous or at least quasi-spontaneous dialog environments rather than in carefully constructed (and therefore rather unnatural (i.e., unsuitable for capturing "naturally" occurring convergence) word repetition or reading tasks. It seems equally important to draw a strict terminological line between "imitation" and "convergence", the former of which is a fully conscious and controlled process, while the latter is only a partially consciously or largely subconscious process. It has been proposed that convergence at its core is a biologically founded drive for more synchrony, which, however, is delimited by many endo- and exogenous factors inherent to every dialogic interaction. The outcome is a dynamic interplay of factors enhancing and limiting it, thereby introducing divergence. Both automatic and controlled mechanisms play a role and this presupposes a "hybrid model" of convergence. Although divergence is more likely to be based on conscious decisions, the speaker might also become aware of the outcome of the rather subconscious convergence processes and deliberately decide to influence them. Social factors and, for instance, the ratings of attractiveness and friendliness probably also exert their influence subconsciously.