Modelling change in neural dynamics during phonetic accommodation

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 phonetic representations during phonetic accommodation, grounded in dynamic neural field equations for movement planning and memory dynamics. We test the model's ability to capture empirical patterns from an experimental study where speakers shadowed a model talker with a different accent from their own. The experimental data shows vowel-specific degrees of convergence during shadowing, followed by return to baseline (or minor divergence) post-shadowing. The model can reproduce these phenomena by modulating the magnitude of inhibitory memory dynamics, which may reflect resistance to accommodation due to phonological and/or sociolinguistic pressures. We discuss the implications of these results for the relation between short-term phonetic accommodation and longer-term patterns of sound change.