[en] Vocal imitation governs speech acquisition. But
the role of imitation in the routine phonetic
behavior of adult speakers still needs to be
investigated. The experiment reported here is an
attempt to induce imitative phonetic variation in
the laboratory. Results show that the speakers'
productions get closer to the productions they are
exposed to (coming from a recorded speaker of
another dialect), although the instructions are not
to imitate or even to listen to the recorded speaker.
We discuss the implications of this finding for the
study of the emergence and the propagation of
sound changes within a speech community.
