This thesis presents results obtained during 2007/08 in the course of doctoral research into attitudes towards linguistic variation in England and Austria and is based in part on a study by Lees (2000). In this project attitudes amongst British and Austrian informants towards low-prestige ('dialect') and high-prestige varieties are investigated on the basis of assumptions made about speakers of these varieties. The data are collected by means of the 'matched-guise technique', whereby informants listen to a number of recordings of low and high-prestige varieties and note their reactions on the basis of a selection of traits using a semantic differential. In this way the research aims to ascertain whether a pattern emerges, where the informants' perception of the guises is influenced by the prestige of the spoken variety. The results in England and in Austria are compared in order to determine similarities and differences in language attitudes towards low and high-prestige varieties in the two countries. Some results presented here correspond to certain social expectations, with high-prestige speakers being associated with better-paid employment and a better education. Other results, though, are less predictable, as where, for example, the female informants in England and in Austria judge the speakers more positively than the male informants, regardless of the prestige of the speaker's variety. In any case, there is evidence from both countries of the informants' evaluations of the speaker being influenced by their associations of the speaker's variety with that speaker's social status. The data also indicate that the social status of speakers in England is judged to a greater extent on the basis of their spoken variety than is the case in Austria, where speakers are more used to switching freely between points on the standard-dialect continuum and are consequently less judgemental in their perception of a speaker based purely on the evidence of their spoken variety.

Denna uppsats är en attitydinriktad genusstudie med fokus på internetkommentarer. Det huvudsakliga syftet är att ta reda på om det finns skillnader i hur människor uppfattar en manlig kommentarsskribent jämfört med en kvinnlig och om dessa skillnader går att knyta till genus, samt om de överensstämmer med tidigare liknande forskning. Metod och material i undersökningen är enkäter inspirerade av matched guise-tekniken, som delats ut till 60 försökspersoner där hälften är män och hälften är kvinnor. I enkäten får försökspersonerna läsa två olika kommentarer där den ena är undertecknad en man och den andra en kvinna. Hypotesen för undersökningen är att tydliga skillnader i uppfattningar av den manliga skribenten jämfört med en kvinnliga ska synas, och därmed följa ett snarlikt mönster som tidigare undersökningar av samma slag. Resultatet visar emellertid att skribenternas kön knappt har någon betydelse för hur försökspersonerna uppfattar skribenterna. I stället syns skillnader i uppfattningar av skribenten beroende vilken kommentar hen har skrivit, samt i om det är en man eller kvinna som bedömer. / This bachelor thesis examines attitudes towards gender by focusing on comments on the internet. The main purpose is to see if there are any differences in attitudes towards a female writer on the internet versus a male writer on the internet, and if the differences are comparable to earlier similar research. The method and material of this study are surveys inspired by the matched guise technique. 60 informants answered the surveys, where 50 % are men and 50 % women. The survey is based on two comments from the internet, where one is signed by a man and one by a woman. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be differences in the attitudes, depending on the sex of the writer, following the same pattern as earlier studies of the same kind. However, the results showed that the attitudes to the writers varied, but not so much depending on the sex of the writer, but more depending on the comment one has written and depending on the sex of the informant.

Research has shown that Utah English is a distinct variety of English, particularly as spoken in the Wasatch front region (Lillie 1998). It is characterized by particular linguistic features, including tense/lax vowel mergers before tautosyllabic /l/ (Di Paolo and Farber 1990) and the oral release of glottal stops in certain environments (Eddington and Savage 2012). The features of this variety have been studied; however, not much research has been done about the positive or negative attitudes people hold toward it. Casual observation indicates that Utahans themselves may judge speakers of this variety more harshly than do people from other regions. The present study was conducted to determine if this is true, and to determine what other factors have an influence on a person's perception of Utah English. A language attitude study was performed using the matched-guise method. Participants were asked to react to recorded speakers, judging how intelligent and friendly they sounded. When multiple Utah English features were combined in a passage, the majority of participants judged the speaker to be unintelligent and unfriendly; also, participants' judgments of the speakers' intelligence deviated significantly based on the participants' location of origin, with significant interactions between location of origin and age group. When Utah English features were looked at separately, participants' judgments of both the speakers' intelligence and the speakers' friendliness deviated significantly based on which feature was being heard and the gender of the participant, with interactions between feature and gender, feature and age group, and feature and location of origin. Overall, Utahan participants judged speech with Utah English features to be worse than did participants from other locations.

Orientador: Linda Gentry El-Dash / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T03:01:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thompson-Oliveira_Andrea_M.pdf: 873828 bytes, checksum: 1cdb4369b3204279ad9f4371b632e172 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Buscou-se neste estudo analisar quantitativamente, por meio de um instrumento de investigação indireto, o Matched Guise, as atitudes de alunos adolescentes de 1as, 2as e 3as séries do ensino médio frente à língua inglesa, utilizando-se fábulas de Esopo. Verificou-se por meio de modelos lineares gerais (GLM) a influência de variáveis como o idioma do texto e a idade do sujeito na atribuição de status e solidariedade. Observou-se que interações entre algumas variáveis, tais como as interações entre o sexo do aluno e o do falante, também exerceram influência nas variáveis dependentes. Investigou-se a correlação entre as atribuições de status e solidariedade ao falante e o desempenho dos sujeitos por meio da análise das notas finais na disciplina inglês. Por fim, questiona-se se é possível atingir a neutralidade preconizada pela Técnica de Matched Guise. / Abstract: The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitatively, by means of an indirect investigation instrument, the Matched Guise, the attitudes of teenager students in High School grades 09, 10 and 11 towards the English language, using Aesop's fables. It was found, through the use of general linear models that such variables as language and subject age influenced the rating of status and solidarity. It was observed that interaction among some variables, such as that between student's sex and speaker's sex also exerted a certain influence on the dependent variables. The interaction between the subject's final grade in English and the status and solidarity assigned to the speaker was also investigated. Finally, the doubt remains as to the possibility of reaching the neutrality prescribed by the Matched Guise Technique. / Mestrado / Ensino-Aprendizagem de Segunda Lingua e Lingua Estrangeira / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

Abstract : In the contemporary world, English has become the international language in which most intercultural communication is conducted (Seidlhofer, 2011). The number of speakers using English as a foreign or second language (L2) outnumbers the number of native speakers of the language six times (Crystal, 2003) and, accordingly, English is used more commonly as a Lingua Franca in the international context than to communicate with its native speakers (Jenkins, 2007). Because of the global spread of English, there are more people who speak English with a non-native accent. Such accents often trigger a set of stereotypes insofar as it could have negative consequences for the speaker in terms of academic success and employability (Lippi-Green, 1994). From decades of research in social psychology and sociolinguistics, it has been established that accent plays a significant role in how native speakers perceive non-native speakers of English (Garrett, 2010). However, little has been done in exploring how non-native speakers of English view their own accent and judge acceptability of other non-native English accents. Therefore, this study addressed the need for further research focusing on non-native students’ attitudes towards Arabic- and Chinese-accented English in an English Intensive Program at an English-speaking university in Montreal. This study employed the verbal guise technique from the field of social psychology to elicit spontaneous reactions to L2 accented speech with two levels of first language (L1) influence. Unlike other verbal guise studies, this study did not include a native speaker sample for comparison. We believed our participants’ potential negative attitudes to L2-accented speech would be attenuated by the reference frame effect. To explain and clarify verbal guise test results, we also conducted semi-structured interviews. The results show that the respondents displayed a relatively low level of solidarity with Chinese and Arabic accents in English. Notwithstanding relatively low solidarity ratings given to the accented voices, they were still higher than the evaluations documented in the literature. In addition, high status ratings were found for non-native speakers despite the fact that they were recognized as such. This suggests that in addition to the positive effect triggered by the lack of inclusion of native speaker accents, there might be some contextual factors at play. We found that the participants were harsher in their ratings when the voices represented the more formal domain of higher education but more lenient when they referred to informal settings. From our data, it is also evident that non-segmentals play an important role in language attitudes. The female speakers who approximated their rhythm patterns and intonation contours to those of a native speaker received higher ratings on all the traits in our data. We believe that, if we want them to serve the needs of international students, these often ambivalent attitudes should be considered in the choice of a classroom pronunciation model, and in the development of pronunciation materials. / Résumé : Dans le monde contemporain, l’anglais est devenu la langue internationale utilisée pour la plupart des communications interculturelles (Seidlhofer, 2011). Le nombre de locuteurs utilisant l’anglais comme langue étrangère ou langue seconde est six fois plus important que le nombre de locuteurs natifs (Crystal, 2003). L’anglais est plus souvent utilisé comme Lingua Franca dans un contexte international que pour communiquer avec des locuteurs natifs (Jenkins, 2007). A cause de cette diffusion globale de l’anglais, la plupart des gens qui parlent anglais ont un accent non-natif. Ces accents déclenchent souvent une panoplie de stéréotypes qui peuvent avoir des conséquences négatives sur l’employabilité ou la réussite professionnelle des locuteurs (Lippi-Green, 1994). Des décennies de recherche en psychologie sociale et sociolinguistique ont reconnu que l’accent joue un rôle significatif sur la perception des locuteurs non-natifs par les locuteurs natifs (Garrett, 2010). Cependant, peu d’études se sont penchées sur la façon dont les locuteurs non-natifs perçoivent leur propre accent et jugent l’acceptabilité des autres accents non-natifs. Par conséquent, la présente étude se concentre sur les attitudes des étudiants internationaux du programme d’anglais intensif d’une université anglophone montréalaise envers les accents arabes et chinois en anglais. Cette étude utilise la technique de locuteur masqué employée dans le domaine de la psychologie sociale pour déclencher des réactions spontanées à un discours de langue seconde accentué par deux niveaux d’influence de la langue maternelle. Contrairement aux autres études utilisant la technique de locuteur masqué, cette étude n’inclus pas de discours de locuteurs natifs à des fins de comparaison. Nous pensons que les attitudes négatives potentielles pourraient être atténuées par l’effet de cadre de référence. Pour expliquer et clarifier les résultats de la technique de locuteur masqué, nous avons également mené des entrevues semi-dirigées. Les résultats montrent que les participants expriment un niveau de solidarité relativement faible envers les accents arabes et chinois en anglais. Pourtant, ce niveau de solidarité est tout de même plus haut que les études reportées dans la littérature. D’autre part, le statut social des locuteurs non-natifs a été évalué positivement malgré que les locuteurs aient été reconnus comme non-natifs. Ceci suggère qu’en plus d’un effet positif déclenché par l’exclusion des accents natifs, certains facteurs contextuels peuvent avoir influencé les résultats. Nous avons trouvé que les personnes interrogées notaient plus sévèrement les voix suggérant un niveau d’éducation élevé, mais étaient plus clémentes envers les voix faisant référence à un contexte informel. De l’analyse des données, il apparait que les non-segmentals jouent un rôle important dans les attitudes langagières. De plus, les locutrices se rapprochant du rythme et de l’intonation des natifs ont reçu des évaluations supérieures sur tous les traits. Nous pensons que ces attitudes souvent ambivalentes devraient être considérées dans le choix du modèle d’enseignement et dans le développement de nouveaux supports d’apprentissage de la prononciation pour les étudiants internationaux.

Dialekter och identitet är två begrepp som sällan kan skiljas åt. Dialekter och reklam däremot kan ses som en ny företeelse som tycks verka i symbios för att förmedla budskap och skapa ett personligt tilltal mot konsumenter. Syftet med studien är att med stöd av en språkattitydmetod kartlägga studenters attityder till svenska dialekter som används i reklam. Metoden som använts för att utröna attityderna är en variant av ett matched guise-test, där tolv inspelningar spelades upp för 50 stycken studenter. Studenterna skulle sedan gradera inspelningarna utifrån elva semantiska differentialskalor. Resultatet visade att det fanns tydliga mönster av att vissa dialekter var mer önskvärda än andra. Det framkom även förändringar i förhållande till tidigare forskning gällande attityder och värderingar av svenska dialekter. Slutsatserna blir att det finns vägar för företag att nischa sig utifrån tilltalet av olika dialekter och skapa förtroende med hjälp av desamma.

Over the last decades, language in the public sector has changed due to influence from New public management. In this thesis, I seek to investigate librarians’ attitudes towards a more businesslike way of speaking about libraries, referred to here as management-speak. For this purpose, I’ve used a modified version of the matched guise technique. A magazine article on libraries was altered so that one version contained more management-speak and the other one less. 500 randomly chosen Swedish librarians were asked to rate one of the two versions on a five point Osgood-scale. Statistical analysis of their answers shows that while respondents who read the version containing less management-speak rated it more favorably, the difference was small and not statistically significant. These results would suggest that librarians in general may not hold any particularly strong attitudes, positive or negative, towards management-speak. However, librarians who graduated in the eighties or later and librarians who do not hold a managerial position are more likely to perceive the writer as younger when she uses more management-speak, while research librarians will probably see the writer as more trustworthy when the management-speak is toned down.

<p>This essay investigated Swedish teenagers' attitudes towards Australian and British English accents. The respondents were exposed to four different accents as part of a modified version of the Matched Guise Technique. They were then asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing the accents in terms of psychological qualities, social evaluation, job suitability and likability. The results show that previous research on attitudes to accents in other countries is applicable on Swedish teenagers' and that stereotyping is an influence as well.</p>

I denna studie kombineras språkvetenskap och religionsvetenskap i syfte att undersöka studenters undermedvetna språkattityder till tre religiösa personbenämningar: muslim(er), hindu(er) och kristen(-na). Deltagarna består av studenter över hela Sverige och majoriteten har könsidentitet kvinna samt är i åldern 15-25 år. Deltagarnas språkattityder undersöks genom en enkätundersökning med ett matched guise-test och semantisk differential. Resultaten tyder på att personbenämningen kristen(-na) ger upphov till fler negativa konnotationer än framförallt muslim(er) men även hindu(er). Muslimer rankas exempelvis som mer hänsynsfulla och intelligenta än kristna. Hinduer rankas exempelvis som mjuka medan kristna exempelvis rankas som mer dumma än hinduer och muslimer samtidigt som de rankas som hänsynsfulla och sympatiska. Attityderna till dessa tre personbenämningar verkar med andra ord följa ett trestegsmönster där personbenämningen muslim(er) skapar flest positiva konnotationer, tätt följd av hindu(er) och sist personbenämningen kristen(-na) som skapar positiva och negativa konnotationer.

This essay investigated Swedish teenagers' attitudes towards Australian and British English accents. The respondents were exposed to four different accents as part of a modified version of the Matched Guise Technique. They were then asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing the accents in terms of psychological qualities, social evaluation, job suitability and likability. The results show that previous research on attitudes to accents in other countries is applicable on Swedish teenagers' and that stereotyping is an influence as well.