Attitudes and Social Acceptance of Dialects
This investigation examines an aspect of the social psychology of languages, particularly regional dialectal variations in the United States and two other English language variations. The four dialects used are Southern American English, New York American English, British English, and Irish English. This study traces these speaking styles and attempts to determine dialectal attitudes. It is said that individuals make judgments about speakers based on physical characteristics. However, the purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals subconsciously make judgments about people with different speaking styles. Further, does the way someone speaks reflect how a listener may perceive him/her as being more or less intelligent? A total of 25 questionnaires were administered to undergraduates at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Each participant completed the questionnaire and the data was surveyed on Likert scale questions. The results indicate that the sampled population does not judge an individual's intelligence on the basis of his/her dialect. Results also revealed that British English is the most preferred English dialect. Participants commented on British English as the most prestigious sounding. Conversely, those sampled noted that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Southern American English were the least preferred. Lastly, the sampled population agreed that they would alter his/ her dialect in order to sound more competent in an interview setting. The outcome of this study indicated conflicting results. Most would not judge intelligence based on dialect, yet they would be willing to change their own dialect in order to sound more competent in a job interview.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
Speech and Hearing Science
Research Advisor:
Adele Proctor
Department of Research Advisor:
Speech and Hearing Science
Year of Publication:
2003