To understand spoken language, listeners must map complex acoustic input onto linguistic representations in their mental lexicons. While this process often appears effortless, the acoustics of spoken language can vary dramatically between speakers. In particular, variation in how second-language (L2) speakers produce the sounds of a language (i.e. ‘foreign’ accents) can increase the difficulties of speech perception. Prior work shows that listeners are highly adaptable, and can rapidly accommodate unfamiliar variation in accented speech, but what remains unclear is how listeners rapidly adapt to accented talkers. In the European community, inter-language and inter-accent communication is increasingly pervasive.
The current project’s pathway to impact was via acquisition of knowledge that can combat societal biases. The burden of improving communication among first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers is often placed on the L2 speakers, who are expected to “reduce” their accents. However, prior research indicates that L1 listeners can also contribute to this process via accent accommodation. To understand the mechanics of this process, we must first understand the mechanism(s) that support listeners’ adaptation to unfamiliar accents. In many international settings (e.g. university classrooms and business meetings), these tools would have enormous potential for improving communication. Given the pervasive increase in inter-language and inter-accent communication in the European community, this initiative was an important step towards improving overall communication among L1 and L2 speakers.
The scale of this project was limited, but the impact was large in terms of understanding cognition of language. The primary aim of the proposed project was to improve our theoretical understanding of the perceptual mechanisms that support accent accommodation, and that aim was met.
