Evoked expectations and evaluational reactions to accented English

Researchers have found that variations in listeners' judgments of speakers are associated with the speakers' accent. It was hypothesized that: (1) Spanish accented speakers would be evaluated less favorably than standard English speakers; (2) listeners would rate both accented and non-accented speakers on the basis of their expectations and not according to the speakers' actual vocal characteristics; (3) listeners would evaluate speakers differently, depending upon the lexical complexity of the speech utilized by speakers; and (4) listeners would evaluate standard and nonstandard English speakers differently, depending upon the speakers' gender. One hundred-twenty subjects evaluated four speakers on semantic differential type scales. Results indicate that: (1) overall accented speakers were evaluated more favorably than non-accented speakers; (2) listeners did not evaluate the speakers according to their expectations; (3) speakers were rated lower when reading an informal passage than when reading a formal passage; and (4) male and female, accented and non-accented speakers were evaluated differently. Results, limitations, and implications are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2000

Author dc:creator

• Brito, Caridad F.

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/21

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1020