Interaction – Educational Sociolinguistics

The Chameleon Effect

Victoria Ky-Khim

The title of this blog post must have intrigued you. The chameleon effect. How is this related to sociolinguistics, you may ask? Fear not, we are getting there. Let us start with a definition of sociolinguistics. What exactly is sociolinguistics? Well, it is hard to say. It depends on who you ask. According to Van Herk (2018), it is a “scientific study of the relationship(s) between language and society” (p. 2). This is quite a broad definition and sure enough, it encompasses the chameleon effect which deals with language and interaction.

Nowadays, many of us are second or even additional language learners. As language learners, we refer to a model, oftentimes a teacher or tutor, and we end up imitating them. Just like how children imitate their parents, learners imitate their teachers. Time and again, the teacher’s pronunciation or accent will rub off on the learner. Indeed, just last year, one of my international classmates, who is Chinese, happened to have a British accent, which we (other students, local and international alike) were quick to notice. The reason behind her accent was that she had an English teacher with a British accent.

Apart from teacher-student interactions, you might have noticed that your accent changes depending on who you are talking to. Many factors affect language, these include but are not restricted to education, society, place, social status, etc. In this case, the interaction with an interlocutor can certainly affect how we speak. It might feel like we are adjusting to their accent, but really, we are imitating or mimicking their accent. Did I know this phenomenon was called the chameleon effect? Certainly not. But a quick Google search (why does my accent change depending on who I talk to?) informed me of that. In their abstract, Chartrand & Bargh (1999) defined the chameleon effect as “nonconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one’s interaction partners, such that one’s behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one’s current social environment”. Now I know, and so do you. For more information about the chameleon effect, I invite you to watch this YouTube video.

Although the chameleon effect seems mostly associated with the field of psychology, it would certainly be interesting to investigate its relation to sociolinguistics since it concerns both language and interaction. Most of all, the chameleon effect touches upon accent which remains a controversial topic in the field of sociolinguistics.

Questions

Have you noticed instances where you imitate your interlocutor’s accent? If yes, when does it happen most? In which languages?
Does the interlocutor notice you have adapted their way of speech? If yes, how do you think it makes them feel?

References

Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76(6), 893–910. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.76.6.893

Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Foreigner talk in Montreal? The story of an ear infection

Ali El Mahmoud

Language barriers can be frustrating when you visit a country and you do not speak its language. Most of us have experienced being lost in translation during trips to nations whose people do not share features of our linguistic repertoires. For our communications, we memorized a few basic phrases; invested in a reliable digital translator; exaggerated the use of our body language; and/or we demonstrated our show-but-not-tell skills. For example, we pointed out items, landscapes, or locations on the pictures we had on our phones or our maps.

On the other side of the conversation, there was (ideally) a person who answered our questions with short sentences, simplified grammar and vocabulary, a lot of repetitions, and a slow and loud delivery. This speech register is often referred to as foreigner talk.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qdxyd3ix4l3dcx/GettyImages-5503828911-5ad8e65fa474be0036ebd245.jpg?dl=0

According to Dela Rosa and Arguelles (2016), foreigner talk occurs when native speakers make linguistic and conversational adjustments to the conversation to accommodate non-native speakers and help them participate in the oral interaction. Linguistic adjustments require a change in phonology and grammar, whereas conversational adjustments consist of modifications of the content of the message (p. 47). The aim of foreigner talk is to facilitate communication (Ellis, 2009, p.45).

I had recently a medical condition that helped me notice that foreigner talk is almost nonexistent in Montreal.

I am trilingual. In addition to Levantine Arabic, I am fluent in both English and French, so in Quebec, I roughly experienced a communication breakdown because I feel at ease speaking the two Canadian official languages. However, in the last few months, I suffered from an ear infection that reduced my hearing ability. According to my doctor, I was hearing 20% less in my left ear, which often caused me discomfort. I had to ask people to repeat what they said, not because I did not understand, but rather because I could not hear a part of their speech. This usually happened in retail stores when I went shopping or when I ordered or received service over the phone.

What I noticed though was funny and interesting. The moment that I requested a repetition and said, ‘Pardon?’ (English or French), the interlocutor switched instantly from English to French (if the conversation was in English), and the opposite, from French to English (if the conversation was in French). To my surprise, foreigner talk never occurred, and there was no scaffolding of any sort. Neither francophones nor anglophones adjusted their interactions. Instead, they code-switched.

The significant linguistic context in Quebec and language laws that were applied from the late 1960s until today had a great impact on the lives of everyone (Gérin-Lajoie, 2022, p. 307). A simple request in a conversation (Could you repeat please?) reveals an indirect implication of the laws in my opinion. For instance, both francophones and anglophones took me as an immigrant, but from two different angles. I know that I am not white, so for French speakers, even though I was trying to speak French, my English is stronger because English is global, and most immigrants speak English. Whereas from an anglophone point of view, a newcomer to Quebec took francisation classes, and therefore, French is their dominant second language.

In both ways, Montrealers avoided the foreigner talk and assumed that I know another language, a quality that is rarely found elsewhere, perhaps. What about you? Have you ever experienced something similar?

References

Dela Rosa, J. P. O., & Arguelles, D. C. (2016). Do modification and interaction work? A critical review of literature on the role of foreigner talk in second language acquisition. Journal on English Language Teaching, 6(3), 46–60.

Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.

Gerin-Lajoie, D. (2021). Bill 101 and English minority language education in Quebec. In L. O’Donnell, P. Donovan & B. Lewis (Eds.), La Charte: La loi 101 et les Quebecois d’expression anglaise (pp. 303-321). Presses de l’Université Laval.

Interaction in ESL classrooms

Zahra Zamani

A community of learners can be defined as a group of people who interacts positively through sharing values and beliefs and actively engaging in learning from one another—learners from teachers, teachers from learners, and learners from learners. They thus create a learning-centered environment in which students and educators are constantly and intentionally interacting with each other and thus constructing knowledge together. Learning communities are connected, cooperative, and supportive. Peers are interdependent in that they have joint responsibility for learning and share resources and points of view, while sustaining a mutually respectful and cohesive environment.

My round, red face.

Chris

Sometimes I wish I was a trim, proper looking chap from the European continent, who could be a native speaker of any number of languages. The type where people paused and wondered, “I wonder what language he speaks ? Could it be French, German, Portuguese ? Could it be Dutch ?” I wish there was something ambiguous about my appearance that didn’t shout my native language from a mountain top. However, I’m a burly, ginger bearded man (the unfortunate genetic makeup of someone from Northern England), whose round, red face screams SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH. Since the majority of native English speakers don’t speak a second language, it’s fair to look at me and think I don’t either. Except that I do. I grew up speaking French, and I’ve spent years learning Spanish.