# Phonetic accommodation and inhibition in a dynamic neural field model

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.01210 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01210/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Feb 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Neural inhibition during speech planning contributes to contrastive hyperarticulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.12278/) (2022)
- [Towards a dynamical model of English vowels. Evidence from diphthongisation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00275/) (2024)
- [Scaling laws for nonlinear dynamical models of articulatory control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.12720/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [PyPhonPlan: Simulating phonetic planning with dynamic neural fields and task dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.16299/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

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 speech planning representations during phonetic accommodation, grounded in dynamic neural field equations for movement planning and memory dynamics. A dual-layer planning/memory field predicts that convergence to a model talker on one trial can trigger divergence on subsequent trials, due to a delayed inhibitory effect in the more slowly evolving memory field. The model's predictions are compared with empirical patterns of accommodation from an experimental pilot study. We show that observed empirical phenomena may correspond to variation in the magnitude of inhibitory memory dynamics, which could reflect resistance to accommodation due to phonological and/or sociolinguistic pressures. We discuss the implications of these results for the relations between short-term phonetic accommodation and sound change.