En este estudio se analizan las actitudes lingüísticas hacia la variedad canaria en comparación con la variedad español peninsular considerado estándar de veinte estudiantes universitarios en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. La investigadora utiliza una versión modificada del método matched guise que consiste en una grabación de cuatro versiones de un mismo texto leído por dos hablantes de la variedad canaria y dos hablantes de la variedad español peninsular considerado estándar. Los informantes escuchan el texto grabado y contestan consecutivamente un cuestionario, evaluando las voces de la grabación. Según el resultado obtenido existe una diferencia entre la valoración de la dimensión de estatus y la dimensión de solidaridad. Los informantes valoran más positivamente a la variedad español peninsular estándar al nivel estatus, mostrando actitudes desfavorables hacia la variedad canaria. En la dimensión de solidaridad se manifiestan actitudes contradictorias hacia la variedad canaria, indicando una posible oposición entre una variedad culta y una vulgar. / The purpose of this study is to analyze the language attitudes of twenty university students in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria towards the Canarian variety of Spanish compared to standard Spanish. The investigator uses a modified matched-guise technique to test the subjects´ responses to speech samples from four speakers reading the same text: two Canarian speaking voices and two voices speaking the standard Spanish variety. The subjects listen to the recording and thereafter answer a questionnaire that evaluates their language attitudes. The results show that prestige and solidarity are evaluated variously. In the dimension of prestige the respondents held more positive attitudes towards the standard variety of Spanish while the Canarian variety received less positive virtues and the respondents evaluated their own variety in an unfavorable way. In the dimension of solidarity the attitudes towards the Canarian variety are contradictory, indicating a possible division between the judgement of an educated variety and a vulgar variety.

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.

En este estudio se analizan las actitudes lingüísticas de cinco profesores que enseñan español como lengua extranjera en Lidköping, Suecia, hacia siete variedades estándares de la lengua española. Cuatro de los profesores tienen español como lengua materna y uno de ellos no. El estudio está dividido en dos partes: la primera parte es una entrevista directa donde se obtienen datos como: variedad con la cual se identifican los participantes, contacto con otras variedades, gusto por las variedades entre otras; en la segunda parte, los participantes escucharon las siete variedades y contestaron unas preguntas a través del método verbal guise y mediante un cuestionario se analizaron las actitudes de las dimensiones de estatus y de solidaridad. Los resultados obtenidos fueron que los profesores que tienen el español como lengua materna se identificaron con la variedad de sus países, pero el profesor cuya lengua materna es el sueco se identificó con la variedad mexicana. Las variedades que recibieron actitudes positivas fueron la mexicana, la argentina, la peruana y la variedad española (castellana). Esta última recibió actitudes positivas dentro de la dimensión de estatus, pero no en la dimensión de solidaridad.

The aim of this study is to use a verbal guise test to investigate Swedish upper secondary school students’ language attitudes toward GA and RP. While research has been conducted on this topic before, few studies have incorporated all three cognitive, affective and conative components of the mentalist approach to language attitude, and even fewer with younger student participants, which are two components the present study included. The findings of the present study indicate differences in evaluation of the RP and GA speakers. The investigated L2 speakers of English, the 17-19 year old participants, favoured the RP speaker in terms of the cognitive categories serious, intelligent and responsible, while the GA speaker was evaluated more favorably for the categories not arrogant, kind, calm and gentle. The participants also felt more trust while listening to the RP speaker, while other affective categories did not generate considerable differences in evaluation of the speakers. Lastly, in the conative component, the students self-reported using and aiming for similar pronunciation to GA rather than RP. Several of these results are supported by previous research, but contrasting findings occur as well.

The increasing use of English as a lingua franca has led to the emergence of many nonnative varieties, but research indicates that despite the efforts of disciplines such as World Englishes and ELF to elevate the status of these varieties, speakers of native varieties are still valued higher by listeners all over the world. However, few studies have attempted to compare non-native varieties to each other without the presence of a contrasting native variety. In Sweden, a country where English has a notably high status and prominence, a significant amount of the population has other native languages than Swedish, and as such, there is a range of non-native Englishes spoken in the country. Moreover, speakers of the biggest immigrant language in Sweden, Arabic, are often subjected to discrimination and stereotyping, which makes it relevant to investigate if biases against groups influence how the English spoken by the groups is perceived. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Swedish people towards Swedish and Arabic L2 English speakers. Using the verbal-guise technique, 59 upper secondary school students were recruited to respond to a questionnaire measuring their attitudes towards the two varieties. The findings indicate that there are significant differences: the Swedish speaker was rated as more intelligent, educated, confident and responsible than the Arabic speaker, while the Arabic speaker was rated as kinder and less aggressive than the Swedish speaker. While more research is needed, the findings indicate that subconscious biases against varieties exist, and it is suggested that these need to be taken into account in English-speaking contexts, particularly in ELT classrooms.

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