Matched Guise

By means of a matched-guise study, this paper examines the attitudes of L2, heritage, and native Spanish speakers in the state of Washington toward Mexican-accented and English-accented Spanish. We interpret our findings in the wake of previous research on language attitudes and ideologies related to Spanish in the United States which shows that Spanish and those who speak it as a first or heritage language are thought to have a lower socioeconomic status than English and Anglophones. 97 Spanish-speaking participants residing in Washington (N=95) and the Pacific Northwest (N=2) rated 4 voices along six-point semantic differential scales falling into the dimensions of superiority, solidarity, language competence, and physical characteristics. We submitted mean scores to a linear mixed-effects model. Contrary to our expectations, all groups rated the Mexican-accented guises higher than the English-accented guises in the dimension of superiority. Also unforeseen, the L2 speakers rated the Mexican-accented voices higher in the dimension of solidarity. We consider the high level of education of the respondents and, for the L2 subjects, their experience as advanced Spanish language speakers, as likely explanations for the observed attenuation of well-documented prevailing stereotypes directed at Latinos from the monolingual community at large.

ABSTRACT:  Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) or ‘Singlish’ is a variety very distinct from Singapore Standardised English (SSE), and its use is a polarising issue in Singaporean society. In stark contrast to the results of most language attitude studies in which non-standardised varieties are rated positively along solidarity dimensions, participants of matched-guise studies investigating Singaporean attitudes toward SCE have assigned lower solidarity ratings for SCE than for SSE. This is in stark contrast to anecdotal and public opinion that SCE is a language of solidarity and identity for most Singaporeans. By including participants from non-tertiary sectors and a wider range of stimulus guises as well as supplementing matched-guise results with interview data, this study seeks to reveal the covert prestige that SCE does, in fact, appear to enjoy in Singaporean society. While the matched-guise results of this study largely conform to previous findings, the interview data suggest that many participants were basing their ratings on perceptions of SCE use in the public domain rather than the private domain. The study has implications for the extent to which we can extrapolate results from matched-guise studies, a widely used instrument for the study of language attitudes in the last 50 years.

This study aims to shed light on the attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese nationals residing in Singapore to varieties of Mandarin Chinese. 64 Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants took matched and verbal-guise tests, evaluating recorded speakers of two varieties of Singapore Mandarin (standard and colloquial) and the variety spoken in the PRC on status and solidarity traits. These evaluations were followed by optional questionnaire items intended to probe for additional insights into the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of one another. Both Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants assigned higher status to the PRC’s variety of Mandarin. Attitudes toward the two varieties of Singapore Mandarin, however, varied, with Singaporeans rating the standard variety higher than the colloquial variety on all traits and Chinese nationals favouring the colloquial variety. Interestingly, for all three varieties of Mandarin, solidarity traits were rated higher than status traits by all participants, suggesting that, in Singapore, Mandarin Chinese is now viewed more as a language of solidarity than status.

Research on social meaning, which links language variation to the wider social world, often bases claims about the social meanings of linguistic forms on production (i.e., speakers' situational use of meaningful forms). In the case of the California Vowel Shift (CVS), an ongoing restructuring of the vowel system of California English that takes place below the level of conscious awareness, previous production research has suggested that the CVS carries social meanings of carefreeness, femininity, and privilege. Left unclear in these production-based claims is whether listeners actually pick up on and recognize the social meanings that speakers apparently utilize the CVS to transmit. In this research, a dialect recognition task with matched guises (California-shifted vs. conservative) forms the basis for exploring Californian listeners' reactions to the CVS, and how these reactions are mediated by perceptions of dialect geography.

In contemporary Belarus there are currently two languages being predominantly used: Russian and Belarusian. Besides dialects and other varieties there is to be found a variety called Trasianka, which is widespread throughout the country. Trasianka can be considered as a variety built of elements from other varieties in Belarus, but mainly from Russian and Belarusian. Originally the term Trasianka stems from agriculture describing a 'mixed fodder of poor quality'. Language attitudes towards this variety have hardly been examined thus far. In a recent study based on the matched-guise technique, 227 Belarusian adolescents listened to and evaluated a female speaker reading the same text in Russian, Belarusian and Trasianka. When the speaker used Trasianka, she was given low ratings by test participants in matters of socio-structural issues such as profession and education. Regarding competence, the test participants assumed that the Trasianka speaker was less qualified, as shown by answers to a question on competencies in foreign languages. Finally, the test participants were more reluctant to accept the Trasianka speaker as a neighbor. With this responsiveness, they performed a bigger social distance. By these findings, there is ample reason to conclude that there are negative attitudes existing amongst today's population in Belarus regarding speakers of Trasianka.

Two matched-guise studies examined language attitudes among Georgian youth toward two varieties of spoken Georgian: Tbilisi-accented Georgian (standard variety) and Mingrelian-accented Georgian (nonstandard variety). Study 1, conducted in Tbilisi, found that listeners (N = 106) attributed more status and solidarity to the standard variety, regardless of self-reported regional identity (Tbiliseli, Mingrelian, other). Study 2, conducted in Samegrelo, found that self-identified Mingrelians (N = 96) attributed more status and solidarity to the standard variety, regardless of language use at home. Together, these findings suggest that Mingrelians may be undergoing a generational shift in their language attitudes in favor of linguistic homogenization.

In extended discourse, "which" is often used in what appears to be a coordinate structure. This nonstandard feature has been observed in the speech of educated speakers in informal situations, and also during lectures and nationally televised interviews. The results of the matched guise test carried out in this study suggest that this nonstandard feature is not necessarily associated with a low-prestige lect. The speaker received only slightly lower prestige ratings in his coordinate "which"-guise, and was rated low on solidarity by men and by working class respondents. The results also suggest the possibility that some other social factor may be involved.

This study was carried out to investigate the language attitudes of the Chinese online community in Kuching, Sarawak. The varieties studied were Standard Mandarin, colloquial Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. The instruments used for data collection consisted of matched-guise test (indirect method) and questionnaire (direct method). A total of 403 respondents took part in this survey. Results yielded from the matched-guise tests with supporting evidence from feedback through questionnaires suggest that social factors, namely age group and socioeconomic status do influence evaluations towards the varieties. Generally, Standard Mandarin and Cantonese were rated ‘high’ and ‘positive’ consistently for both the dimensions of status and solidarity, while the ratings for Hokkien and colloquial Mandarin were more prominent in the solidarity dimension.

Edited by Stephan Kessler and Marko Pantermöller. Publisher: Peter Lang, 2020. ISBN: 978-3-631-80743-9.
Content: (1) Yvonne Bindrim: On the Relationship between Language Attitudes and Linguistic Opinions in Finland. (2) Anastasija Kostiučenko: The Language Situation in Lithuania—Is There Anything to Worry About? (3) Vava Lunabba: Language Climate in Finland. (4) Meilutė Ramonienė: New Trends of Multilingualism in the Lithuanian Urban Space: the Private Sphere. (5) Laima Kalėdienė: Lithuanian Language Policy: Past and Present Duel.

The article presents an experiment known as The Matched Guise Technique, which was carried out in a secondary school in Vilnius. 55 pupils were asked to listen to recorded speech of five women and then describe the speakers. All the women indicated their age, so the respondents were aware of the speakers’ age. What pupils did not know was that one woman talked twice: the first time she talked plain Lithuanian (the Lithuanian guise), the other time she used three English words, namely, OK, sorry and nice (the English guise). The aim of the experiment was to investigate the pupils’ evaluation of the woman in the two different guises. The pupils were also asked to indicate the best and worst speakers and evaluate how the women would function as TV hostesses. The results of the experiment showed that only a minority of the respondents reacted negatively to the use of English words in the adult speech. They described the speech of the woman in the English guise as contrived and unnatural and noted that the language she used did not become a 40-year-old woman. The results of the Vilnius study were compared to the results of the same study, carried out in a gymnasium in Copenhagen.

A specific language situation is correlated with a specific language policy. This fact is also true for Lithuania and its sociolinguistic constellation. The question of whether there is a reason to worry in the case of Lithuania can only be answered by knowing and analysing the relevant premises and prevailing language attitudes. The article presents a detailed documentation of an experimental study on language attitudes conducted in Lithuania between 2014 and 2016. Based on selected results, it provides a description of sociolinguistic profiles of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šalčininkai and Visaginas.

Research on Guatemalan Spanish has increasingly shown the effects of contact with Mayan languages. However, whereas most studies have focused on the structural outcomes of Spanish-Mayan contact, fewer studies have analyzed how native Guatemalans socially perceive these features and, by extension, those who employ them. This study presents an analysis of one contact feature of Guatemalan Spanish: the fortition of the voiceless labiodental fricative, or /f/ > [p]. Results of a matched guise of 116 native listeners of Guatemalan Spanish reveal that [p] guises index speakers as Maya and elicit more negative overt and covert attitudes than [f] guises. Furthermore, participants who self-identified as Maya were more likely to rate [p] guises as less prestigious than participants who did not identify as Maya, indicating that the Maya participants may display outgroup favoritism in order to disassociate themselves with the discrimination and racism that often accompanies their ethnic identity in Guatemala.

The article is divided into three main parts. In the first part, an overview of scholarly views on trust/trustworthiness is provided. The second part is concerned with the issue of how the politicians’ trustworthiness is measured by contemporary research agencies. In the third part, the experiment on politicians’ trustworthiness utilizing a new method is reported. This method is based on indirect questioning and it builds on the hypothesis that the more trustworthy a politician is, the more people will agree with his statements and consider them seriously. Four parallel questionnaires were employed. The first questionnaire (N=53) contained 10 short fictitious quotations and subjects were asked to rate them according to their solidness, acceptability, and positivity, and they were asked to say to what extent did they agree with them. Five of these quotations were used in the next three questionnaires (N=48;47;42) and the names of five Czech politicians (K. Schwarzenberg, A. Vondra, R. John, V. Filip and B. Sobotka) were attached to them. No name was attached to the same quotation twice. Respondents were divided into four independent groups and each group responded to one questionnaire. The independent two-sample t-test was used for the comparison of the ratings and 20 statistically significant results were
obtained. This means the method could be one of the keys for a better future understanding of such a complex notion as the trustworthiness of politicians is.

Bei der Verbreitung vieler sich im Gange befindenden Lautwandel wird den sich im Wandel involvierten Varianten eine soziale Bedeutung zugeschrieben (Eckert 2019). In der deutschen Sprache hat sich der Artikulationsort des Phonems /r/ zunehmend von einem alveolaren zu einem uvularen verändert. Unterdessen sind in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts Migrant/inn/en mit nicht-deutschen Erstsprachen Teil der deutschen Sprachgemeinschaft in Österreich geworden. Eine auffallende Interferenz ihrer Erstsprachen im Deutschen ist die Verwendung eines alveolaren /r/. Das führte zu unterschiedlichen sozialen Bedeutungen dieser Variante. In dieser Studie wurde die soziale Bedeutung der alveolaren und uvularen Realisierungen, gesprochen von einem jeweils jüngeren (18 Jahre) und älteren (59 Jahre) Sprecher österreichischen Deutschs, untersucht. Teil der Vorgehensweise waren zwei Experimente; eine modifizierte Version des Matched-Guise-Test und zwei Audio- Ausschnitte, gefolgt von offenen Fragen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass obwohl die alveolaren Varianten die archaischen im Lautwandel sind, sie, unabhängig vom Sprecheralter, mit einer sogenannten ›migrantischen Persona‹ assoziiert werden.

The aim of the present study is to explore the metapragmatic stereotypes of elementary
school pupils towards geographical varieties, using as stimulus a TV commercial, in order to
understand how they perceive and define these varieties. Specifically, we look into the
children’s beliefs on the overt and covert prestige of geographical varieties and dialect
speakers, that is, on the acceptability that varieties and their speakers may have within and
outside their social space (Τrudgill 1974). The research findings indicate that the children of
our sample associate varieties to specific geographical and communicative context and specific
social groups. Pupils therefore appear to follow the dominant metapragmatic stereotypes of
strictly bounded language varieties, and don’t seem to challenge the assumption of distinct
and autonomous varieties.

This study aims to shed light on the attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese nationals residing in Singapore to varieties of Mandarin Chinese. 64 Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants took matched and verbal-guise tests, evaluating recorded speakers of two varieties of Singapore Mandarin (standard and colloquial) and the variety spoken in the PRC on status and solidarity traits. These evaluations were followed by optional questionnaire items intended to probe for additional more insights into the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of one another. Both Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants assigned higher status to the PRC’s variety of Mandarin. Attitudes toward the two varieties of Singapore Mandarin, however, varied, with Singaporeans rating the standard variety higher than the colloquial variety on all traits and Chinese nationals favouring the colloquial variety. Interestingly, for all three varieties of Mandarin, solidarity traits were ...

To determine the social and stylistic correlates of vocal fry in a cappella performances. A matched-guise experiment was used to measure listener evaluations of fry and non-fry guises. Four singers, two male and two female, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" with onset vocal fry. These recordings were used to create the two guises: (i) an unmodified recording with onset vocal fry on vowel-initial words and (ii) a recording in which the fry had been removed. In total, 253 participants listened to the recordings and evaluated the singers' social and stylistic attributes along a Likert scale, e.g., how confident, sexy, and sincere each singer sounded. A factor analysis was used to conflate correlated variables, and mixed effects linear regression models (n = 1,012) were fitted to each lone or joint factor to determine whether vocal fry significantly influenced listeners' responses to the singers. Vocal fry significantly altered listener evaluations of the singers' si...

As a consequence of political changes and war, during the last decade the migration processes have been intensified and incomers from other parts of Croatia and neighbouring countries have moved to the town of Zagreb and have changed it considerably. These demographic changes have also had an influence on the language used in the area and on language attitudes towards the Standard Croatian, local vernacular and other dialectal varieties. The aim of this study is to explore the awareness that speakers, Croatian adolescents resident in Zagreb, have of their own language variety and their attitudes toward different other dialect varieties. The data were collected using the speech guise method and a questionnaire in order to assess both conscious and unconscious components of these linguistic evaluations. The results obtained once again confirmed the expected prestige of the Standard variety in terms of its speaker's alleged highest competence, but also its low standing as far as social attractiveness is concerned. Nonstandard local varieties showed the exactly opposite trend, although the evaluation of native and immigrant adolescents differed considerably.