Reactions to African-American Vernacular English: Do More Phonological Features Matter?

Abstract

AbstractThis study examined the relationship between the strength of speaker accent and subsequent listener judgments about thespeaker. The study etnployed a 3x2 factorial design featuring speaker accent (strong AAVE/ moderate AAVE/ mainstream U.S.English) and listener ethnicity {ethnic majority/ ethnic minority}. Results demonstrated that listeners rated speakers withstrong AAVE accents both less attractive and less status-possessing than speakers with moderate AAVE accents, who in turnwere rated as less attractive and status-possessing than speakers with mainstream U. S. English accents. In addition, listenerethnicity also had an impact resembling in-groitp bias. Even so, the results still demonstrated a trend consistent with thegeneralization that both dotmnant atid non-dominant group members internalize the language ideology that favors so-calledstandard speakers.Key Words:speaker evaluations, language attitudes, accent scaling, African-American Vernacular EnglishS ince its itiception in the 193O 's, language attitudesresearch has dem onstrated that language is a pow erfulsocial force that does m ore than convey intended refer-ential inform atioti. F or better or w orse, hearers react tolitiguistic and paralinguistic variation in m essages asthough they indicate both personal and social charac-teristics of the speaker. F or exam ple, a stranger m ay bejudged incom petent due sim ply to a slow rate of speech(B row n, 1980). B ecause such beliefs about languageuse can bias social interaction, language attitudes rep-resent im portant com m unicative phenom etia w orthunderstanding.A s a field of study, language attitudes research isconcerned w ith the social consequences of any num berof different language behaviors (e.g., speech style,speech rate, gender-linked language, or code-sw itch-ing). H ow ever, am ong all language behaviors, the m oststudied and perhaps the m ost socially significant is ac-cent. O ver the years, scores of studies have com paredreactions to varieties of accents found throughout thew orld, including the U nited S tates, and have found thataccents m atter greatly (see B radac, C argile & H alett,2001). T hose w ho speak w ith an accent deem ed stan -dard w ithin a particular com m unity (i.e., the varietyJose Rodriguez i Ph. D.. Michigan State University. 1995) is un Associate Professor of Communication Studies atCalifornia State University. Long Beach. His scholarly interests focus on the structure of subjective experience,ptirticularh processes involving: language attitudes, social activism, proactive performance, mindfulness. andempathy. His research has heen published in Intercultural Communicatio n S tudies, C om m unication R esearch,C om m unication E ducation, Journa l of C lassroom M anagem ent, an d C om m unication A ctivism {in press. Hamp-ton Press), (top left)Aaron Castelan Cargile (Ph. D.. University of California Santa Barbara. }996) is an AssociateProfessor of Communication Studies at California State University, Long Beach. He .specializesin the study and teaching of intercultural communication, with an emphasis on language atti-tudes and inter-racial dialogue. His research has heen published in the H ow ard Journal of C om -m unication. R ace E thnicity and E ducation, International and Inlercultural C om m unication A n-nual. C om m unication Y earbook, and Journal of L anguage and S ocial P sychology, {bottom left)Marc D. Rich {Ph.D.. Southern Illinois University. Carbondale. 1997) is an Assistant Professorof Communication Studies!Performance Studies at California State University. Ltmg Beach.Marc's research interests include perfortnance and .social change and critical race theory. Hisessays appear in R ace. E thnicity and E ducation. T ext and P erform ance Q uarterly, Journal ofC ontem porary E thnography, A m erican C om m unication Journal, D eath Studies , and C om m uni-cation A ctivism (in press. Hampton Press), fhmtom right:The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3. 2004 407