Kinematic patterns of phonetic convergence

描述(申请人提供)：人类言语通常是说话者之间的自发互动，但现有的观察对塑造语言声音至关重要的潜在言语运动的技术大多局限于对单个说话者的高度控制的研究。在这个建议中，我们开创了一种新的方法，首次支持由两个面对面的谈话者同时直接观察语音清晰度，并将其应用于 研究他们在交谈中互动时发生的相互适应。从以前的工作中可以看出，当说话人相互交谈时，他们通常会调整自己的言语模式。当这样的调整朝着增加相似性的方向进行时，这种效果被称为说话人对齐或语音收敛。到目前为止，这一现象主要是通过分析对话录音(包括听众的主观评分)来研究的，但作为这种音频基础的语音发音器的熟练动作还无法获得。这种新的方法，利用两个同步的电磁发音计(EMA)系统，将首次提供对语音融合的运动学方面的直接观察。由于这种融合是促进交流和在说话者之间建立社会距离的基本手段，因此，当它未能按预期操作时，例如带有持续的外国口音，对其操作的基线知识对于建议补救措施是重要的。作为一个实际应用，这一建议将比较英语母语者对之间观察到的运动学趋同程度，以及一个母语者和一个非母语者混合对之间的收敛程度。这将导致对外国口音发音方面的更好理解，并提出改进言语矫正和第二语言教学方法的可能性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human speech is typically a spontaneous interaction between talkers, but existing techniques for observing the underlying speech movements crucial for shaping the sounds of language are mostly limited to highly controlled studies of single speakers. In this proposal we pioneer a new approach that for the first time supports simultaneous direct observation of speech articulation by two face-to-face talkers, and apply it to studying the mutual adaptation that occurs between them as they interact in conversation. It is known from previous work that when speakers converse with one another, they typically make adjustments in their patterns of speech. When such adjustments are in the direction of increased similarity, the effect is known as speaker alignment or phonetic convergence. Until now this phenomenon has been studied primarily through the analysis of conversational audio recordings (including subjective ratings by listeners), but the skilled movements of the speech articulators that underlie such audio have not been accessible. This new approach, exploiting two synchronized electromagnetic articulometer (EMA) systems, will for the first time provide direct observation of the kinematic aspects of phonetic convergence. Because such convergence is a fundamental means of facilitating communication and establishing social distance between speakers, baseline knowledge of its operation is important for suggesting remedies when it fails to operate as expected, as for example with persistent foreign accent. As a practical application this proposal will compare the extent of kinematic convergence observed between pairs of native English speakers, to that found between mixed pairs with one native and one non-native speaker. This will lead to improved understanding of the articulatory aspects of foreign accent, and suggest possibilities for improving methods of speech remediation and second language instruction.