Charles Richards and Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Department of German and Slavic Languages
Everyday listeners make personal judgments about the people with whom they are speaking based on the accent or voice quality of the speaker. Studies have shown that a person’s speech– independent of accent–can influence a listener to make judgments about the speaker’s intelligence, sociability, trustworthiness, and a number of other personal traits (Hiraga, 1999). But what happens when “foreign” accent is added to the equation? Purnell et al. (2005) found that when the same person reading from the same script called to make appointments to see apartments, the speaker had more success getting an appointment when he spoke with a “non- accented” American accent than with an AAVE (African American Vernacular English) or Hispanic English accent, highlighting the fact that a speaker’s accent can result in discrimination. Such negative judgments can play a critical role in a person’s performance and success in the work environment, especially if the position requires much verbal communication or instruction on the part of a foreign speaker (Chuang, 2010).
My project built on this earlier research by taking it one step further by studying the impact of a foreign accent rather than a sociolect (Hispanic English or AAVE) on judgments listeners make. Little research exists on this topic, which led me to ask the questions upon which my study was based. I compared ratings that native German speakers gave to German speech samples produced by 6 American (3 beginner and 3 advanced) and 6 Korean (3 beginner and 3 advanced) learners of German for both accentedness and the personal characteristics that they assumed for the German learners (e.g. intelligence, friendliness, education, etc.), solely based on their L1 accent (Korean vs. American), voice, and general pronunciation. The native German speakers were also asked to complete a cultural attitudes survey in order to assess any preconceived attitudes towards various foreign cultures. Results were used to answer two
main research questions:
1. Do native Germans rate the personal traits (shyness, education, successfulness, reliability, friendliness, intelligence, honesty, diligence, trustworthiness) of various cultures (Germany, England, France, Italy, America, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Korea) differently?
I can answer this question in the affirmative. The cultural attitudes survey revealed significant differences for how the subjects rated the countries for good accent (when speaking German), shyness, education, successfulness, reliability, friendliness, intelligence, honesty, and trustworthiness. It is also interesting to note that, based on the rankings of the countries for the individual traits, the three native German-speaking countries were usually found at the top of the list for most favorably seen. Typically, Korea was also rated higher on the list for each trait. Conversely, France, Italy, and Turkey were usually at the bottom of the list with few exceptions. The rankings for England and America were variable from trait to trait.
2. Do native Germans rate Korean and American learners of German differently in terms of linguistic features (accentedness, fluency, comprehensibility, proficiency) and personal traits (shyness, education, successfulness, reliability, friendliness, intelligence, honesty, diligence, trustworthiness) based on L1 of speaker, gender of speaker, and level of experience?
I can also answer this question in the affirmative. As seen in the table, the ratings for all four linguistic traits, namely accent, fluency, comprehensibility and proficiency, as well as the personal traits education, successfulness, and intelligence were significantly influenced by the L1 of the speaker. There was also suggestive influence by L1 on the ratings for diligence. Gender was not a significant influence on the ratings for any of the traits; only for friendliness and honesty did gender seem to have played a suggestive role. The proficiency of the speakers with the German language did play a significant role for the subject ratings of all four pronunciation traits, as well as intelligence and trustworthiness. Suggestive evidence also indicates that proficiency level with the language played a role in the ratings for education, friendliness, and diligence.
Speech is important and carries with it more than just the messages conveyed by words. From the way one person talks, another can understand a multitude of other factors. The information derived from speech is used by the listener to make conclusions about the speaker for better or worse. This has particular significance for how the native speaker of a language would perceive a foreign learner of that language. The analysis of the results from this study have demonstrated that native speakers do make judgments about foreign speakers based on speech, and that there are significant correlations between those judgments and the native language and proficiency level of foreign speakers. These findings provide insightful information that can be used to help FL learners in their pursuit to master and use their TL. They also not only show some of the influencing factors behind the judgments people make about one another, but they also show raise awareness so that such tendencies can be overcome on the part of the speaker or the listener when negative.
The year I spent working on this project provided countless valuable lessons and experiences. I had the opportunity to not only acquire research and writing skills, but I had had the opportunity to collaborate with other researchers from around the globe. In April 2012 I travelled to Indiana University to present the results of my study at the German Linguistics Annual Conference. Neither the completion of my project nor the trip to this conference would have been possible without the ORCA grant. I would also like to acknowledge and express appreciation for the enormous help and support I received from Dr. Laura Smith, Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Hyuna Kim, as well as my wife, Jessica, and my parents.
References
- Chuang, Hsun-Yu. (2010). Undergraduates’ Perceptions and Attitudes Toward the Foreign
Accentedness of International Teaching Assistants in the USA. Masters Abstracts International. 48.6. - Hiraga, Yuko. (2005). British Attitudes Towards Six Varieties of English in the USA and Britain. World
Englishes, 24.3, pp. 289-308. - Purnell, Thomas, Idsardi, William & Baugh, John. (1999). Perceptual and Phonetic Experiments on
American English Dialect Identification. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 18: 10, pp. 10-30.