A Social Structural Approach to Speech Evaluation

Abstract

This study investigated the importance of selected key social and linguistic categories for speech evaluation. Subjects (N = 208) were presented with a random order of eight voices presenting identical information and asked to evaluate each individual associated with the voice on the dimensions of competence, social attractiveness and personal integrity. Half the voices were standard and the other half broad in accent, half of the individuals presented were middle-class and the remainder lower-class, and equal numbers of speakers were presented as being native born or of migrant extraction. All possible combinations of these variables (accent, class, and ethnicity) were presented to respondents. Social class information affected ratings of competence and social attractiveness, whereas information relating to ethnicity was found to be related to judgments of social attractiveness and personal integrity. In addition, the interaction between class and ethnicity was found to be important for ratings of personal integrity.