Listeners' Cognitive and Affective Reactions to English Speakers with Standard American English and Asian Accents

Abstract

Using a 2 (speaker accent: standard American, Asian) x 2 (speakers' sex: male, female) between-subjects design, the present study examined the effects of accent and sex on listeners' cognitive and affective reactions towards speakers with standard American English accents and Asian accents. 70 female and 27 male college students (M = 21.8 yr., SD = 4.7) listened to the audio recording of a monologue by one of the speakers in the early 20s who differed in accent and sex. Standard American English was operationalized as nonaccented English, typical of the western part of the USA, and Vietnamese-accented English was used as an exemplar of Asian-accented English. Results showed that relative to standard American-accented English speakers, Asian-accented English speakers were perceived as poorer communicators who were less potent, less threatening, and more concerned about others. These cognitive reactions to Asian-accented English speakers include (a) the general stereotype associated with an accent, status and solidarity, as well as (b) the stereotype unique to Asians as an ethnic group, being concerned for others and poorer communicators. Analysis also showed that speakers with an Asian accent evoked more negative affect and required more attention from listeners than did speakers with a standard American English accent. Implications of the study are discussed.

Investigating the impact of unfamiliar speaker accent on auditorycomprehension in adults with aphasia

“…This effect on a listener's attitude may have a complex relationship with the impact on listener comprehension. For example, unfamiliar accents may require greater attention leading the listener to conclude the speaker is a poor communicator (Hosoda et al , 2007). Alternatively, utterances produced by speakers with accents perceived as ‘intelligent’ may be better recalled (either their perceived intelligence means that listeners pay more attention to them, or that since a listener finds it easier to understand, the speaker is perceived as being more intelligent) (Bottriell and Johnson 1985a, 1985b).…”

How non-native English-speaking staff are evaluated in linguistically diverse organizations: A sociolinguistic perspective

“…For example, non-standard speakers tend to be perceived as less competent (Boyd, 2003), less intelligent (Lindemann, 2005) and less loyal (Edwards, 1982) than standard speakers, and as speaking the language poorly (Hosoda, Stone-Romero & Walter, 2007). The stronger the non-standard accent perceived, the more negative social evaluations it gives rise to (Gluszek, Newheiser & Dovidio, 2011;Ryan, Carranza & Moffie, 1977).…”

The legitimizing role of accent on discrimination against immigrants

“…This occurs because accent plays a central role in the way individuals categorize speakers into social groups, especially in relation to ethnic categorization (Rakić, Steffens, & Mummendey, 2011). Indeed, previous research suggests that non-standard accents are associated with negative evaluations of the speaker (e.g., Fuertes, Gottdiener, Martin, Gilbert, & Giles, 2012;Grondelaers, van Hout, & Steegs, 2010;Hosoda, Stone-Romero, & Walter, 2007;Ko, Judd, & Blair, 2006;Lev-Ari & Keysar, 2010;Lindemann, 2003Lindemann, , 2005, because the accent elicits native individuals' negative attitudes towards the social category to which the non-standard speaker belongs (Boyd, 2003;Bresnahan, Ohashi, Nebashi, Liu, & Shearman, 2002;Fuertes et al, 2012;Lindemann, 2003). However, as far as we know, no research has yet been published demonstrating the influence of accent on actual discrimination against non-standard speakers, nor has there been any elucidation of the social and psychological process underlying the accent effect.…”