Strategies and effects of 'foreigner talk'. A multmodal analysis.

Foreigner talk or foreigner-directed speech has been described as a type of linguistic adaptation that occurs when native speakers (NS) adapt their communicative behavior to less proficient, nonnative speakers (NNS) and that includes simplification strategies such as hyper-articulation, reduced speech rate, the use of high frequency forms, omission of morphosyntactic items and reformulations. Concerning non-verbal modifications, some pilot studies have observed an increased gesture rate, more iconic and deictic gestures, extended proportions of specific representational modes (i.c. drawing and shaping) and larger gestures. More generally, these findings are consistent with a growing body of research which demonstrates that gaps in common ground cause gestures to be performed bigger and higher in the gesture space. In addition, the phenomenon of multimodal audience design has received some attention in adult-child interaction.

In this project we want to meticulously describe multimodal features of Foreigner Talk first (“what do NS do?”), and subsequently look into the effects of those multimodal features (“do NNS benefit from what NS do?”). In tackling the first issue, we analyze formal (kinematic) features of gesture by means of the OpenPose framework, which allows for an automatic and video-based detection of numerous keypoints on the body.  Currently, we are working with data (lab conversations with collaborative task) which is available from MA-thesis research. In the course of the project, we will scale up our dataset in order to account for both communicative and social/emotional effects of the strategies we describe. Settings will include longer and more spontaneous conversations, with or without confederates.