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Asymmetric accommodation during interaction leads to the regularisation of linguistic variants

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Feher , Olga, Ritt, Nikolaus and Smith, Kenny (2019) Asymmetric accommodation during interaction leads to the regularisation of linguistic variants. Journal of Memory and Language, 109 . 104036. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2019.104036 ISSN 0749-596X.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104036

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Abstract

Linguistic variation is constrained by grammatical and social context, making the occurrence of particular variants at least somewhat predictable. We explore accommodation during interaction as a potential mechanism to explain this phenomenon. Specifically, we test a hypothesis derived from historical linguistics that interaction between categorical and variable users is inherently asymmetric: while variable users accommodate to their partners, categorical users are reluctant to do so, because it would mean violating the rules of their grammar. We ran two experiments in which participants learnt a miniature language featuring a variable or categorical grammatical marker and then used it to communicate. Our results support the asymmetric accommodation hypothesis: variably-trained participants accommodated to their categorically-trained partners, who tended not to change their behaviour during interaction. These results may reflect general social cognitive constraints on acquiring and using variable linguistic devices, and give insights into how small-scale interactive mechanisms may influence population-level linguistic phenomena.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
P Language and Literature > PM Hyperborean, Indian, and Artificial languages
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Languages, Artificial, Language and languages -- Variation, Linguistic change
Journal or Publication Title: Journal of Memory and Language
Publisher: Academic Press
ISSN: 0749-596X
Official Date: December 2019
Dates:
DateEvent
December 2019Published
25 July 2019Available
9 July 2019Accepted
Volume: 109
Article Number: 104036
DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2019.104036
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 23 July 2019
Date of first compliant Open Access: 25 July 2020
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
UNSPECIFIEDNewton Fundhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010897
ES/K006339[ESRC] Economic and Social Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
681942[ERC] Horizon 2020 Framework Programmehttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010661
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