Evaluation reactions of Jewish and Arab adolescents to dialect and language variations.

Abstract

Jewish and Arab adolescents in Tel-Aviv and Jaffa were asked to evaluate the personality characteristics of speakers from tape recordings of their voices, some using different dialects of standard Hebrew (Yemenite and Ashkenazic), other using Arabic. The Ss were kept unaware that the speakers were bilinguals who spoke in different dialects or languages during the sequence of recordings. Comparisons of evaluational reactions made to the matched guises were analyzed and compared with standard measures of attitudes toward Yemenite Jews, Ashkenazic Jews, and Arabs. A hypothesis is proposed that the matched-guise technique reflects stereotyped attitudinal and perceptual reactions of a more private nature than do standard measures of attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)