John Benjamins Publishing Company
Implicit attitudes and the perception of sociolinguistic variation
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Brandon C. Loudermilk
Abstract
We investigated individual differences in processing the social dimensions of speech, addressing whether the degree of implicit stereotypical attitude towards language variants modulates brain activity during comprehension. Subjects listened to spoken stories, in which sentence-final critical words were manipulated for ing/in’ variant which was congruent/incongruent with the variants in the preceding discourse and which was typical/atypical of speaker dialect. Subjects participated in an Implicit Association Test as a measure of language attitudes towards ing/in’ variation and were classified as high or low stereotype. Results showed that listeners with low IAT scores had higher N400-like negativities while processing word variants that violated dialectal expectancies (ing uttered by a Southern speaker and in’ spoken by a Californian). Our results provide evidence that the cognitive mechanisms that support language comprehension are sensitive not just to what is said, but also to how it is said, who says it, and who hears it.
Abstract
We investigated individual differences in processing the social dimensions of speech, addressing whether the degree of implicit stereotypical attitude towards language variants modulates brain activity during comprehension. Subjects listened to spoken stories, in which sentence-final critical words were manipulated for ing/in’ variant which was congruent/incongruent with the variants in the preceding discourse and which was typical/atypical of speaker dialect. Subjects participated in an Implicit Association Test as a measure of language attitudes towards ing/in’ variation and were classified as high or low stereotype. Results showed that listeners with low IAT scores had higher N400-like negativities while processing word variants that violated dialectal expectancies (ing uttered by a Southern speaker and in’ spoken by a Californian). Our results provide evidence that the cognitive mechanisms that support language comprehension are sensitive not just to what is said, but also to how it is said, who says it, and who hears it.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
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Part 1: Theoretical Backgrounds
- Does language regard vary? 3
- REACT – A constructivist theoretic framework for attitudes 37
- Mixing methods in the study of language attitudes 55
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Part 2: Implicit and/or explicit? When are attitudes “authentic”?
- The primary relevance of subconsciously offered attitudes 87
- Applying the Implicit Association Test to language attitudes research 117
- Implicit attitudes and the perception of sociolinguistic variation 137
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Part 3: What factors awaken attitudes?
- Got class? Community-shared conceptualizations of social class in evaluative reactions to sociolinguistic variables 159
- Perceived foreign accent as a predicator of face-voice match 175
- Is Moroccan-flavoured Standard Dutch standard or not? On the use of perceptual criteria to determine the limits of standard languages 191
- Attitudes and language detail 219
- Topic Index 243
- Name Index 247
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Part 1: Theoretical Backgrounds
- Does language regard vary? 3
- REACT – A constructivist theoretic framework for attitudes 37
- Mixing methods in the study of language attitudes 55
-
Part 2: Implicit and/or explicit? When are attitudes “authentic”?
- The primary relevance of subconsciously offered attitudes 87
- Applying the Implicit Association Test to language attitudes research 117
- Implicit attitudes and the perception of sociolinguistic variation 137
-
Part 3: What factors awaken attitudes?
- Got class? Community-shared conceptualizations of social class in evaluative reactions to sociolinguistic variables 159
- Perceived foreign accent as a predicator of face-voice match 175
- Is Moroccan-flavoured Standard Dutch standard or not? On the use of perceptual criteria to determine the limits of standard languages 191
- Attitudes and language detail 219
- Topic Index 243
- Name Index 247
