Description:
In investigations of phonetic accommodation, convergence is the most frequently reported finding (e.g., Babel, 2012). However, divergence is also attested under some circumstances (Giles, Coupland & Coupland 1991). On the basis of observations and modeling of Tobin and Nam (2009), Tobin, Nam and Fowler (under review) and Kopecz and Schöner (1995), we asked whether and how phonetic distance along some relevant phonetic dimension would modulate accommodation. Following Roon and Gafos (2014) and Gallantucci, Fowler and Goldstein (2009), who report systematic perceptuomotor effects in speech, we used a cue-distractor paradigm to assess the effect of distance. Participants were visually cued to produce a syllable (ta or ka). 150 ms later they heard a distractor syllable from a 5-step ta or ka VOT-continuum. Participants were assigned continua either near or distant from their baseline VOT. An ordinal logistic regression of data from 12 participants in the near condition indicated patterns of divergence from the mean distractor VOT among those closest to the distractor, convergence among those farthest, and maintenance at intermediate distances. Pending analysis of data from the distant condition, we conclude that targets must fall within a range neither too close to nor too far from speakers' baseline to induce convergence.