Open AccessPROSODIC CONVERGENCE AS A RESULT OF SPEAKERS’ INTERACTION IN SPONTANEOUS DIALOGUE
Author(s) -
Anastasia Gorbyleva
Publication year - 2019
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.22250/2410-7190_2019_5_3_41_52
Subject(s) - conversation , naturalness , entrainment (biomusicology) , convergence (economics) , duration (music) , syllable , linguistics , psychology , unobservable , contrast (vision) , transition (genetics) , computer science , cognitive psychology , communication , speech recognition , rhythm , mathematics , artificial intelligence , acoustics , philosophy , biochemistry , physics , chemistry , quantum mechanics , econometrics , economics , gene , economic growth
In conversation, speakers become more alike in various dimensions. This phenomenon, commonly called convergence, or entrainment, is widely believed to be crucial to the success and naturalness of human interactions. We investigate three aspects of convergence in prosodic dimensions: automatic entrainment, turn-taking and role relations between speakers. We explore whether speakers coordinate with each other in these dimensions over the conversation globally as well as locally, on a turn-taking basis. The results of the research show that the female speaker had a leading part in the course of the conversation, while the male speaker was a follower. Some prosodic characteristics, such as pitch and syllable duration at the end of the turn, show either individuals' identity in contrast to that of another individual or similar strategies of accommodation. Conversely, the male speaker applied more convergence strategies in the terminal part of the conversation within such prosodic features as mean intensity and duration of pauses marking the transition to a new speaker.