Doctoral dissertation research: Factors influencing generalization and maintenance of cross-category imitation of Mandarin regional variants

人们在听到与自己不同的语音时，会改变自己的语言生成，这一过程被称为语音模仿。在说同一种方言的人之间以及说不同方言的人之间，都可以观察到对他人讲话的模仿。以前的研究发现，搬到一个新的语言社区的成年演讲者可以部分地习得新社区的口音。然而，人们不太了解的是促进或限制第二方言特性长期模仿的机制。当前项目的目标是探索影响对另一种方言的语言特性的模仿程度的语言、情境和认知因素，这些因素在接触并推广到新单词之后仍然存在。本项目将重点研究中国建始县和来封县两种地方普通话方言特征的模仿。第一个实验将研究模仿如何推广到新的单音节单词，以揭示普通话单词处理的心理表征，即音节、音调、辅音、元音或子段特征。第二个实验将考察表征重复次数和包含变体的词汇上下文如何影响模仿维持和泛化程度，以揭示暴露量和变异性对长期语音模仿的相对贡献。第三个实验将利用暴露后阅读过程中不同指令对被试有意识努力的影响，探讨自动性在模仿维持和泛化中的中介作用。本项目的研究结果将揭示跨方言模仿的机制，该机制使或限制说话者在不同的暴露环境和不同的需求下保持和概括模仿。研究结果还将为模仿的自动和控制方面以及连接语音感知和产生的表征单位提供新的见解。该项目对语音模仿在长期语音变化中的作用以及通过提高个体模仿、维持和概括新方言特征的能力来促进第二方言习得的方法具有更广泛的意义。

People change their own language production when hearing others' speech that differs from their own, a process known as phonetic imitation. Imitation of others' speech has been observed between speakers who speak the same dialect and also between speakers who speak different dialects. Previous studies have found that adult speakers who move to a new speech community can partially acquire the accent of the new community. What is less understood, however, is the mechanisms that facilitate or constrain long-term imitation of second-dialect properties. The goal of the current project is to explore the linguistic, situational, and cognitive factors that influence the degree to which imitation of linguistic properties of another dialect is maintained beyond exposure and generalizes to novel words. This project will focus on the imitation of dialect-specific properties across two Mandarin regional varieties spoken in Jianshi and Laifeng counties, China. The first experiment will investigate how imitation generalizes to novel monosyllabic words, to reveal the mental representations underlying word processing in Mandarin, i.e., syllables, tones, consonants, vowels, or subsegmental features. The second experiment will examine how the number of token repetitions and lexical contexts containing the variant affect the degree of imitation maintenance and generalization, to reveal the relative contributions of exposure amount and variability to long-term phonetic imitation. The third experiment will use different instructions during post-exposure reading as a way of influencing participants' conscious effort, to investigate the role of automaticity in mediating imitation maintenance and generalization. The results of this project will reveal the mechanisms underlying cross-dialect imitation that enable or constrain speakers to maintain and generalize imitation after various exposure environments and in response to different requirements. The results will also provide new insights into the automatic and controlled aspects of imitation, and the representational units connecting speech perception and production. This project has broader implications for the role of phonetic imitation in long-term sound change, and for methods to facilitate second dialect acquisition by improving individuals' ability to imitate, maintain, and generalize new dialect features.