The other-accent effect on speaker recognition

The present article investigates the other-accent effect (OAE) on speaker recognition in the context of voice line-ups for speakers of Quebecois and Hexagonal (France) French. The literature largely attests to a language familiarity effect (LFE) that can bias the results of this forensic phonetics technique. A far less substantial number of studies have investigated whether this finding also extends to varieties of a single language (regional or social). The main aims of the present study are therefore to test whether such an effect is present for the two varieties of French concerned, and whether the predominance of the so-called “standard” variant of French generates a measurable asymmetry in this effect. Participants (n = 34) whose native French was either Quebecois or Hexagonal took part in a speaker recognition task through two voice line-ups, one for each variety of French. The findings indicate that there is no significant OAE on speaker recognition for the French varieties studied, despite some noteworthy tendencies related to the asymmetry between the two varieties of French and the duration of stay of the French participants in Quebec.