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A Switch of Dialect as Disguise

Sjöström, Maria ; Eriksson, Erik J. ; Zetterholm, Elisabeth LU and Sullivan, K.P.H. (2006) 52. p.113-116
Abstract
Criminals may purposely try to hide their identity by using a voice disguise such as imitating another dialect. This paper empirically investigates the power of dialect as an attribute that listeners use when identifying voices and how a switch of dialect affects voice identification. In order to delimit the magnitude of the perceptual significance of dialect and the possible impact of dialect imitation, a native bidialectal speaker was the target speaker in a set of four voice line-up experiments, two of which involved a dialect switch. Regardless of which dialect the bidialectal speaker spoke he was readily recognized. When the familiarization and target voices were of different dialects, it was found that the bidialectal speaker was... (More)
Criminals may purposely try to hide their identity by using a voice disguise such as imitating another dialect. This paper empirically investigates the power of dialect as an attribute that listeners use when identifying voices and how a switch of dialect affects voice identification. In order to delimit the magnitude of the perceptual significance of dialect and the possible impact of dialect imitation, a native bidialectal speaker was the target speaker in a set of four voice line-up experiments, two of which involved a dialect switch. Regardless of which dialect the bidialectal speaker spoke he was readily recognized. When the familiarization and target voices were of different dialects, it was found that the bidialectal speaker was significantly less well recognized. Dialect is thus a key feature for speaker identification that overrides many other features of the voice. Whether imitated dialect can be used for voice disguise to the same degree as native dialect switching demands further research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
dialect, voice disguise
host publication
Working Papers
editor
Ambrazaitis, Gilbert and Schötz, Susanne
volume
52
pages
113 - 116
publisher
Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4296bcc3-bbd1-478c-a464-3045a6063fd5 (old id 536208)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:12:45
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:03:21
@inproceedings{4296bcc3-bbd1-478c-a464-3045a6063fd5,
  abstract     = {{Criminals may purposely try to hide their identity by using a voice disguise such as imitating another dialect. This paper empirically investigates the power of dialect as an attribute that listeners use when identifying voices and how a switch of dialect affects voice identification. In order to delimit the magnitude of the perceptual significance of dialect and the possible impact of dialect imitation, a native bidialectal speaker was the target speaker in a set of four voice line-up experiments, two of which involved a dialect switch. Regardless of which dialect the bidialectal speaker spoke he was readily recognized. When the familiarization and target voices were of different dialects, it was found that the bidialectal speaker was significantly less well recognized. Dialect is thus a key feature for speaker identification that overrides many other features of the voice. Whether imitated dialect can be used for voice disguise to the same degree as native dialect switching demands further research.}},
  author       = {{Sjöström, Maria and Eriksson, Erik J. and Zetterholm, Elisabeth and Sullivan, K.P.H.}},
  booktitle    = {{Working Papers}},
  editor       = {{Ambrazaitis, Gilbert and Schötz, Susanne}},
  keywords     = {{dialect; voice disguise}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{113--116}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University}},
  title        = {{A Switch of Dialect as Disguise}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5720592/625622.pdf}},
  volume       = {{52}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}