Perceptions of English accents in Sweden: L1 Swedish university students' attitudes towards the Nigerian Standard English and the General American English accents
2017 (engelsk)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 poäng / 15 hp
Oppgave
Abstract [en]
Language attitude studies have shown that different accents carry different status and peoples’ way of speaking gives rise to judgments of their character. However, there is little known about the effects different Standard English varieties have in Sweden. This study will investigate how L1 speakers of Swedish perceive and judge the speakers of the Nigerian Standard English and General American English accents in terms of credibility and how familiarity contributes to the listener’s judgment of these accents. A modified verbal-guise technique comprising stimulus recordings and questionnaires was used. 91 participants responded to a questionnaire containing 6 questions soliciting their perceptions of the target accents and their speakers. It was hypothesized that the participants’ familiarity to the GenAm accent as well as the high status of the accent in relation to the NSE accent would make the GenAm accent to be judged favorably compared to the NSE accent. The findings indicated that the GenAm accent was favored compared to the NSE accent. However, the findings did not support familiarity as a determining factor for the favorable judgments of the GenAm accent.
sted, utgiver, år, opplag, sider
2017. , s. 32
Emneord [en]
Accents, attitudes, credibility, NSE, GenAm
HSV kategori
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-152280OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-152280DiVA, id: diva2:1178572
Presentation
(engelsk)
Veileder
Examiner
2018-03-012018-01-302018-03-01bibliografisk kontrollert