Defining the cognitive mechanisms underlying reactions to foreign accented speech

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Pantos
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Likelihood Model

With the notable exception of the application of the metonymy model to explain stereotyping (Kristiansen, 2001), sociolinguistic language attitudes research has typically focused exclusively on explicit attitudes toward foreign accents without providing a cognitive model to explain how such attitudes are formed. At the same time, researchers in other fields have proposed the use of specific cognitive processing models such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) to explain the cognitive processes underlying reactions to foreign-accented speakers, without isolating foreign accent as an independent variable and without considering that listeners may possess different explicit and implicit attitudes towards the same speaker (e.g., Frumkin, 2007). Focusing on instances where participants exhibit different explicit attitudes toward the same foreign-accented speaker for different speaker traits (e.g., likeability versus knowledge), the present study seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the nature of reactions to foreign accented speech by testing at which point negative attitudes toward foreign accents are formed and changed. Specifically, this research asks whether interlocutors have uniformly negative immediate associative reactions to foreign accent that are subsequently mitigated for certain judgments by propositional processes to form differing explicit attitudes, or whether the immediate reactions are ambivalent, but subsequently become negative for certain judgments through propositional processes.

Attitudes toward accents of Mandarin in Singapore

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachael Hui-Hui Chong ◽  
Ying-Ying Tan
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Open Door ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Sizeable Number ◽  
The Prestige

Like many other countries, Singapore has seen some public tension fermenting over what is sometimes perceived as the government’s generous open-door immigration policy. Some Singaporeans appear to have taken to regarding themselves as rightful “natives” by distinguishing between local and foreign accents (see Jacobs 2012; Oon 2012). With a sizeable number of foreigners hailing from China, do Singaporeans have negative attitudes toward non-local Chinese accents because of these ‘anti-foreigner’ sentiments? This paper examines the language attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans towards speakers of Mandarin from three locales: Beijing, Taiwan and Singapore. It describes an attitudinal test using the verbal guise technique, comparing the attitudes of 100 Singaporean Chinese youths toward the Beijing, Taiwanese and Singaporean accents of Mandarin along the dimensions of prestige and solidarity. This study shows that there are distinct differences in the ways in which the three accents are perceived by Singaporeans. However, contrary to expectations, the foreign accents are not discriminated against, but are in fact ranked more favourably as compared to the local accent. Ultimately, functionality and economic goals of advancement seem to override other socio-cultural aims of the nation as Singaporeans focus on the prestige that the foreign Chinese accents can bring them.

scholarly journals How does foreign accent affect template matching mechanisms? ERP evidence from Polish

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Hanna Kędzierska
Keyword(s):  
Template Matching ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Sentential Context ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
The Brain

Sentential context is believed to have particularly robust effects on the processing of foreign-accented speech (Lev-Ari 2015). However, recent neurolinguistic studies investigating the relation between non-native speech and semantic predictability suggest that anticipation mechanisms are, in fact, hampered during the processing of foreign accents (Romero-Rivas et al. 2016). The current study is an attempt to shed more light on this issue and establish whether the mechanisms responsible for categorical template matching remain active during the processing of non-native speech. The study investigated neural reactions towards high cloze probability template endings (i.e., the endings of fixed phrases selected in a pre-test) and their unexpected counterparts. 120 Polish sentences were recorded by a native Polish speaker and a non-native (L1 Ukrainian) speaker of Polish in order to investigate the reactions towards an easily recognizable foreign accent. The brain activity of 28 monolinguals (L1 Polish) was recorded during the EEG sessions. In native-accented speech, violations of high cloze probability items resulted in a broadly distributed negativity followed by a P600 effect. No comparable effects were observed in the case of foreign-accented speech. These results are compatible with previous findings (Hanulíková et al. 2012; Romero-Rivas et al. 2016) as they confirm that linguistic anticipatory and reanalysis processes are hampered in the case of non-native speech.

Implicit Social Cognition and Language Attitudes Research

2015 ◽  
pp. 104-117
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Pantos
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Implicit Social Cognition ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Explicit Attitudes ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Explicit Measure ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Implicit And Explicit Attitudes

This chapter argues for incorporation of concepts and methods from the domain of Implicit Social Cognition (ISC) into the field of language attitudes research. As support, this chapter reports on a quantitative study that employed both an audio Implicit Association Test and traditional self-report questionnaires to measure participants' implicit and explicit attitudes toward foreign and U.S. accented speech stimuli. The IAT revealed a pro-U.S. accent bias, while the explicit measure found a pro-foreign accent bias. These results support the argument that the distinction between implicit and explicit attitudes as separable attitude constructs resulting from distinct mental processes is an important one for language attitudes research and that both attitude constructs should be evaluated when studying language attitudes.

scholarly journals In the Ear of the Listener: The Role of Foreign Accent in Interethnic Friendships and Partnerships

2021 ◽  
pp. 019791832098883
Author(s):  
Irena Kogan ◽  
Jörg Dollmann ◽  
Markus Weißmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Children Of Immigrants ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Interethnic Friendships ◽  
Communicative Power

This article examines the association between accented speech and the formation of friendships and partnerships among immigrants and native-born majority residents in Germany. Drawing on the sixth wave of the German extension of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we analyze a neglected aspect of language — pronunciation — and find that speaking with a foreign accent is a more important correlate of the incidence of interethnic partnerships than of interethnic friendships. We argue that beyond its primary function of understandability, accented speech possesses socially communicative power. Accent transmits signals of an individual’s foreignness and cultural differences and, thus, becomes an additional marker of social distance. Such signals serve as a greater obstacle to more consequential intimate interethnic relations such as partnerships. Our findings extend the scholarly debate on the role of symbolic boundaries in social interactions between ethnic groups by yet another important boundary maker — accent.

Diagnosis as a Detriment: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding the Depressive Experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Hy Einstein
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Clinical Applications ◽  
Psychotropic Medications ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
The Brain

Depression is currently understood within a biomedical paradigm. This paradigm is an example of reductionism; people are clinically diagnosed and categorized based on behavior and affect, while they are then prescribed psychotropic medications based on an inconclusively correlated neurotransmitter imbalance in the brain. In this article, clinical diagnosis and labeling are explored with respect to their detrimental potential. A framework of embodied cognition is used to conceptualize a cognitive model of depressive experience. This theoretical model explores the potentially self-reinforcing cognitive mechanisms behind a depressive experience, with the goal of highlighting the possibility of diagnosis as a detrimental influence on these mechanisms. The aim of this article is to further a discussion about our current mental health care paradigm and provide an explanation as to how it could cause harm to some. Clinical applications of the model are also discussed pertaining to the potential of rendering formal dichotomist diagnoses irrelevant to the ultimate goal of helping people feel better.

scholarly journals “It sounds like the language spoken by those living by the seaside” – language attitudes towards the local Italo-romance variety of Ghanaian immigrants in Bergamo

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (254) ◽  
pp. 103-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Guerini
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Local People ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Ghanaian Immigrants ◽  
Linguistic Repertoire ◽  
Discourse Strategies

Abstract In this article, I focus on the position of Bergamasco, the Italo-romance variety spoken in the Province of Bergamo (Northern Italy), in the linguistic repertoire of the local Ghanaian immigrant community. I argue that Ghanaian immigrants do not speak Bergamasco since the local people refrain from speaking Bergamasco to them. Bergamasco can be regarded as a we-code (Gumperz, John. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) of the indigenous community, whereas Italian – in most cases, a simplified variety of standard Italian – is the default choice when communicating with immigrants. The lack of input in combination with negative attitudes and a lack of motivation to acquire the dialect triggers a self-reinforcing dynamic, making the incorporation of Bergamasco into the linguistic repertoire of Ghanaian immigrants unlikely. Excerpts from a sample of face-to-face interactions and semi-structured interviews involving a group of first-generation Ghanaian immigrants reveal that Bergamasco tends to be perceived as a sort of “secret language” deliberately used by local people to exclude immigrants and other outsiders. This stereotype originates from and is reinforced by lack of competence on the part of the migrants, but is devoid of any foundation.

Comparative Acoustic Analyses of L2 English: The Search for Systematic Variation

Phonetica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 441-479
Author(s):  
Rebecca Laturnus
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Acoustic Analyses

<b><i>Background/Aims:</i></b> Previous research has shown that exposure to multiple foreign accents facilitates adaptation to an untrained novel accent. One explanation is that L2 speech varies systematically such that there are commonalities in the productions of nonnative speakers, regardless of their language background. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A systematic acoustic comparison was conducted between 3 native English speakers and 6 nonnative accents. Voice onset time, unstressed vowel duration, and formant values of stressed and unstressed vowels were analyzed, comparing each nonnative accent to the native English talkers. A subsequent perception experiment tests what effect training on regionally accented voices has on the participant’s comprehension of nonnative accented speech to investigate the importance of within-speaker variation on attunement and generalization. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Data for each measure show substantial variability across speakers, reflecting phonetic transfer from individual L1s, as well as substantial inconsistency and variability in pronunciation, rather than commonalities in their productions. Training on native English varieties did not improve participants’ accuracy in understanding nonnative speech. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> These findings are more consistent with a hypothesis of accent attune­ment wherein listeners track general patterns of nonnative speech rather than relying on overlapping acoustic signals between speakers.

Interpreting accent in the courtroom

Target ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Hale ◽  
Nigel Bond ◽  
Jeanna Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Mock Jurors ◽  
Foreign Accents ◽  
Court Proceedings

Findings from research conducted into interpreted court proceedings have suggested that it is the interpreters’ rendition that the judiciary and jurors hear and upon which they base their evaluations of witnesses’ testimony. Previous research into the effect of foreign accent of witnesses indicated particular foreign accents negatively influence mock jurors’ evaluations of the testimony. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of interpreters’ foreign accents on the evaluation of witnesses’ testimony. Contrary to previous research, our results indicated that participants rated the witness more favourably when testimony was interpreted by an interpreter with a foreign language accent. Accented versions were all rated as more credible, honest, trustworthy and persuasive than the non-accented versions. This paper discusses the findings in the light of methodological concerns and limitations, and highlights the need for further research in the area.

Anglo-Australians’ and Immigrants’ Attitudes toward Language and Accent: A Review of Experimental and Survey Research

1987 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor J. Callan ◽  
Cynthia Gallois
Keyword(s):  
Second Generation ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
National Language ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Ethnic Language

Research on the language attitudes of members of dominant and minority speech communities has special importance in countries such as Australia, where governments are in the process of developing a national language policy. Research in Australia suggests that Anglo-Australians remain strongly monolingual and Anglophile in their attitudes; they support educational programs on other languages mainly for their children's own educational advantage. In addition, they show preference in most situations for standard or prestige varieties of English. Second generation members of immigrant groups are under strong pressure to assimilate and to abandon their community languages. Opportunities to learn and use community language are somewhat restricted. In addition, young, second generation Australians may in some cases have even more negative attitudes toward nonstandard accents in English then do Anglo-Australians although they may value their own ethnic language as a signal of solidarity with their ethnic community.

scholarly journals Sikap Bahasa Penutur Shimakutuba Dialek Uchinaguchi Di Prefektur Okinawa

KIRYOKU ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Reny Wiyatasari
Keyword(s):  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Population ◽  
Language Attitude ◽  
Questionnaire Method

(Title: Language Attitudes Of The Speakers Of Uchinaguchi Dialect,  Shimakutuba Language In Okinawa Prefekture) This study aims to determine the language attitude of the speakers of the Uchinaguchi dialect, one of the dialects in Shimakutuba which is the language used in the Okinawa islands. Shimakutuba is one of the languages in the world set by UNESCO as an endangered language. Because the theme of this research is focused on language attitudes which is one of the topics in sociolinguistic studies, the data are collected using the questionnaire method through distributing questionnaires to respondents who are considered representative representing the research population and also using literature study methods. Then the data were analyzed using descriptive methods. Based on the results of the questionnaire, it was found that the language attitude shown by speakers of Shimakutuba was divided into two, namely positive attitudes and negative attitudes. A positive attitude consists of positive active and positive passivity.

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