IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY BUT HOW YOU SAY IT: THE EFFECTS OF PHONETIC LINGUISTIC ALIGNMENT AND STATUS ON INTERLOCUTORS

Abstract

This paper serves first as a review of the literature on social interaction, language, identity as they pertain to discourse, specifically on the topic of linguistic alignment. It first reviews the research on imitation and behavioral mimicry, drawing attention to the scarcity of such research with regard to linguistics and conversational dynamics, and even more so to phonetic alignment. It then lends attention to the ways in which linguistic variation can be used in order to investigate how language can both represent an identity as well as perform or project an identity, looking at the different factors that play a role in linguistic alignment. A pilot study was conducted, followed by a main experiment, as an attempt to partially address and breach the gap. Participants were asked to recall words, some of which had two acceptable pronunciations (not explicitly stated). The effects when approached by an experimenter in low or high status dress and of the experimenter aligning with or against the participant were studied, assessed by participants’ ratings of relatability of the experimenter and their willingness to participate in future studies. No main effects were significant. The only significant finding was the correlation between participants’ self-reported preference for group or individual learning and future compliance. Further, brief connections include the possible significance and intricacies of these considerations in sign language, as a modal language, as well as greater implications generally for success in education and mentorship relationships. Keywords: compliance, liking, linguistic alignment, relatability, status