I Don't Like You Because You're Hard to Understand: The Role of Processing Fluency in the Language Attitudes Process

Abstract

Two experiments examined the effects of processing fluency—that is, the ease with which speech is processed—on language attitudes toward native‐ and foreign‐accented speech. Participants listened to an audio recording of a story read in either a Standard American English (SAE) or Punjabi English (PE) accent. They heard the recording either free of noise or mixed with background white noise of various intensity levels. Listeners attributed more solidarity (but equal status) to the SAE than the PE accent. Compared to quieter listening conditions, noisier conditions reduced processing fluency, elicited a more negative affective reaction, and resulted in more negative language attitudes. Processing fluency and affect mediated the effects of noise on language attitudes. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

What's in an accent? General spontaneous biases against nonnative accents: An investigation with conceptual and auditory IATs

“…This question has lingered since the early days of language attitude studies (Gluszek & Dovidio, ; Nesdale & Rooney, ; Ryan & Bulik, ). Social group associations have been the major focus of attention (see Dragojevic & Giles, ; Giles & Billings, ; Giles & Rakić, ; Lambert, Hodgson, Gardner, & Fillenbaum, ). However, previous research has focused primarily on stigmatized varieties, which implied negative reactions (see Fuertes et al, ; Giles & Billings, ).…”

“…Expectations of nonnative speakers having less linguistic competence and being less comprehensible were found to bias perceptions, even of utterances that are grammatically correct and intelligible (Cheung, ; Gluszek & Dovidio, ; Rao, ; Rubin, ). Perceived disfluency may contribute to these general low competence associations (Dragojevic & Giles, ).…”

“…In general, sociability perceptions have been found to be more variable and context‐dependent (Goodwin, Piazza, & Rozin, ; Landy, Piazza, & Goodwin, ). It could be assumed, though, that the perception of foreignness and disfluency may impinge on sociability perceptions for nonnative accents, likely mediated via affective reactions (see also Dragojevic & Giles, ).…”

Bilingual children’s social preferences hinge on accent

“…It is possible that children’s social preferences may track, at least in part, with their perception of the strength of an individual’s accent. For instance, adults judged accented speakers more harshly when they had difficulty processing their speech (i.e., because participants were listening to speakers in a noisy environment) compared to when they did not have difficulty (Dragojevic & Giles, 2016). Thus, future studies should investigate whether speakers’ accent strength influences both monolingual and bilingual children’s social preferences.…”

“…Children are more likely to endorse fluent statements than disfluent ones (i.e., audio recordings with noise added; Bernard et al, 2014). Children also presumably find more familiar speech to be easier to process, given that adults demonstrate more positive attitudes towards accented speakers when they are in quieter environments and that speech is easier to process compared to noisy environments (Dragojevic & Giles, 2016). We also find some evidence for the possibility that familiarity can guide children’s social preference: English-dominant children were more likely to select English speakers as potential friends than French- or Korean-dominant children.…”