23.4307, Diss: Phonetics/ Phonology/ Socioling/ Spanish: MacLeod: 'The Effect of Perceptual Salience on...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-23-4307. Mon Oct 15 2012. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 23.4307, Diss: Phonetics/ Phonology/ Socioling/ Spanish: MacLeod: 'The Effect of Perceptual Salience on...'

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Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:54:16
From: Bethany MacLeod [beth_macleod at carleton.ca]
Subject: The Effect of Perceptual Salience on Phonetic Accommodation in Cross-Dialectal Conversation in Spanish

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Institution: University of Toronto 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2012 

Author: Bethany MacLeod

Dissertation Title: The Effect of Perceptual Salience on Phonetic Accommodation 
in Cross-Dialectal Conversation in Spanish 

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
                     Phonology
                     Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): Spanish (spa)


Dissertation Director(s):
Yoonjun Kang
José Ignacio Hualde
Alexei Kochetov
Laura Colantoni

Dissertation Abstract:

Phonetic accommodation is the process whereby speakers in an 
interaction modify their speech in response to their interlocutor. The 
social-psychological theory of Communication Accommodation Theory 
(Giles 1973) predicts that speakers will converge towards (become 
more similar to) their interlocutors in order to decrease social distance, 
whereas they will diverge from (become less similar to) their 
interlocutors to accentuate distinctiveness or show disdain. Previous 
studies have found that phonetic accommodation is affected by many 
social, situational and linguistic factors (Abrego-Collier et al. 2011; 
Black 2012; Babel 2009, 2010, 2012; Babel et al. 2012; Kim, Horton & 
Bradlow 2011; Nielsen 2011; Pardo et al. 2012). With respect to 
accommodation across dialects, a handful of studies have suggested 
that the perceptual salience of the various differences between two 
dialects might affect the pattern; however, these studies make 
conflicting predictions. Trudgill (1986) predicts that speakers will 
converge more towards the more salient dialectal differences, while 
Kim et al. (2011) and Babel (2009, 2010) suggest the opposite: that 
speakers will converge on the less salient differences.  


This thesis investigates how the perceptual salience of 6 differences 
between Buenos Aires Spanish and Madrid Spanish affect the pattern 
of phonetic accommodation in conversation. The results are 
considered both in terms of the magnitude of the changes that the 
participants make as well as the direction of the change (convergence 
or divergence). The results show that perceptual salience has a 
significant effect on the magnitude of the change, with all participants 
making greater changes as perceptual salience increases. On the 
other hand, perceptual salience was found not to have a consistent 
effect for all speakers on the likelihood of converging or diverging on 
the dialectal differences. I argue that the lack of consistent effect of 
salience on the direction of the change stems from individual 
differences in motivation to take on the opposing dialect norms and 
issues of personal identity, whereas the very consistent effect of 
salience on the magnitude of the change suggests that there is 
something more basic or systematic about how salience interacts with 
the extent to which speakers accommodate. 






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