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Phonetic accommodation and inhibition in a dynamic neural field model

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  • Sam Kirkham
  • Patrycja Strycharczuk
  • Rob Davies
  • Danielle Welburn
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Publication date9/05/2025
Host publicationProceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
EditorsAzzurra Ruggeri, David Barner, Caren Walker, Neil Bramley
Place of PublicationSan Francisco, CA
Number of pages8
Volume47
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Short-term phonetic accommodation is a fundamental driver behind accent change, but how does real-time input from another speaker's voice shape the speech planning representations of an interlocutor? We advance a computational model of change in speech planning representations during phonetic accommodation, grounded in dynamic neural field equations for movement planning and memory dynamics. A dual-layer planning/memory field predicts that convergence to a model talker on one trial can trigger divergence on subsequent trials, due to a delayed inhibitory effect in the more slowly evolving memory field. The model's predictions are compared with empirical patterns of accommodation from an experimental pilot study. We show that observed empirical phenomena may correspond to variation in the magnitude of inhibitory memory dynamics, which could reflect resistance to accommodation due to phonological and/or sociolinguistic pressures. We discuss the implications of these results for the relations between short-term phonetic accommodation and sound change.