Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Garrett H1:5

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous UthX8lL
    19 views46 pages
    Garret capitols

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Garret capitols

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    19 views46 pages

    Garrett H1:5

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous UthX8lL
    Garret capitols

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 46
    ‘These thre definitions set outa range o sues that get talked about in relation to attitudes, ad these ae taken up inthe folowing sections, Oppenheim’ definition opens with the explicit statement that at tude 2 psyehologial constrict. Constructs cannot 3 observed di ‘ecly, and so we have to rey on our ables to infer them from the ‘or of things that Oppenheim lists: emotional reactions, statements te The fact that we eannot observe atiudes directly does not mean ‘hat they are bogus, that we are Jas “imagining things Perot (2008 58) argues that mental and emotional phenomena ae no les rel than physical behaviours. In another oftecited statement. Allport (1535) taining that ‘Arties are never ze seve, but wes thy ae admit through nerence as rel aad subst ingedien in human hare Becomes impose to account stator ether fr the oustency of sy nc’ Beir, forthe iy ina ‘city (9. ‘The status of attitudes as psychological constructs brings dius in accessing them. This the reason why there is away a great deal of| febate about how we can study them, Unroughout attudes rerearch, nd throughout this book. Beyond this basle characteristic of being & construct is useful to ‘ake a general nd simple'core’ definition and then te aborateon it by looking at various aspects of atitudes about which there ls reasonable consensus. Sarat (1970: 279) provides ich 3 core in hs definition of an attitude as espostion to react favourably o unfavourably to 8 lass of abject Using this aa sting pint, is taken a given that ‘an attitude i an evaluative orientation co social objet of some sort ‘wether its 3 language, of 8 new government pli. et. And 8 “disposition an atutade ca bescen as having degeeof stability that slows itto beens FACETS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF ATTITUDES ‘Attitudes ae seen 2s complex through thelr possessing vaious facets tnd manifestations. To rake an example ffor an educational context, ite wanted ro study students’ atudes towards thei Swahili language lesons we would ned to establish the relevant facets ofthese atitudes ‘what do we (and the stident) mean by and include under ‘Swablli Tanguage Testont? The facets Involved could include the Swahili language lel, classmates, teachers caching methods materials and Attitudes to Language PETER GARRETT Universitcltsbibtiotheek Binnenstad Utrecht CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Acknowledgements am grateful to Wyn ap Gwilym and to Combos, Gweithdal Pally, syd Y Pace, ¥ Bala, Gwynedd, 1123 75W, Wales, for allowing fee permission to inclade the photographic image of the Cowbols shire m ‘Terrace, Basking Ridge, Nj 07920, USA, fr fre permission to ince advertizements from ¥ Dye, ako in chapter 9. Permission has been Purchased from Mouton to include Figures 1.1 to 11.8, hive Been delighted to collaborate with many excellent colleague and frends during the time I ave revearehed and taught language tudes could not possbly Ist them ll ofcourse but Ne Coupland, Howard Giles, Tore Kristiansen, Dennis Preston, Angie Wiliams. a ‘wel a Colin Baker, Cart James, Phil Schofield. and the late Harry Levin. simply have to be nated before 1 end this paragraph. In ‘variety of ways. they have each payed very significant parts over the years, and Tam very thankful 0 all of them Not to be overlooked, though isthe part that very many students nave ad in this book, es contents have evolved from lectures and Serminars over a number of ear, and seem co have simulated 3 ood ‘many interesting student projec, and continue to do so. the seadents curesty and engagement with language atitades that hhas made the tsk of compiling this book worthwhile. This Book is for them, 1 Introduction ‘In October 2007 the Sunday Tegaph cated a repor that Scots ‘ctor Sean Connery had accused the British Prime Minster Gordon Brown of attempting to modify his Seotesh accent in order toappeal © ‘votes in England (Mandrake 2007. Connery was reported a ying {tat Brown's accent ‘certainly fn as pronounced as ie was, but Gardas| ‘har to ride wo horses down in Westlnster. He knows its difficult 9 _apesl to people on both ses of the borer, the has tor. even it ‘tens Sneha bat" Drwn, the Journals oggentee ‘as seeking to “disguise his naive tongue “Connery hse deployed hie wm Scottish vases of Eli whea he played Richard the Lionheart inthe Rim Rabi Hou Princ of Thies “This portrayal ofan English monarch with a Scottish accent Was mae) ‘commented on (as was US actor Kevin Costner's noni accent a he role as Robin Hood inthe same im), Audiences have expectations, ie seems. These are clearly not based on any reality of how these characters might have spoken. Modern audiences would undoubtedly sruggle with the Englih spoken at the me in which the ales cf Rabin Hood atest, for example, and Richaré the Lionheart himsel ‘ough bom in Osforé, war 2 Frenchspeaking Plantagenet, who _acconing to Harvey (1577) may have spaken lite Engish ata But Itese expectations are doubless based on 2 stereotypical notion In some that such famous figures in English history ought to sound, te modern car, English The breaking of these socially normative language expectations sem to generate sllence. While Some people might experience sch a velation of expectations positively and so be ‘ite taken by the idea of Richard the Lonheart asa Scotsman. othes ‘dearly experience it negatively leading to some discomfort and ‘estrenchment (Sich ideas about meeting or breaking expectations “ie par of Burgoon’s 1995 language expectancy theory 0 which We “all aso refer iter) ‘Language attitudes permeate our daly lives, They are not ales publicly articulated snd, ned, we are not ahwaps conscious of them. a rrirupes 10 tancuacs ‘But many nevertheless are overt. and we probably notice them in particular when they ate negative and articulated explicitly and often Srgumentatvely in publicarenae such asthe media in out day-oday conversations. Although we may fel that there are many diferent ways of expresing oUr thoughts in our languages, language var ion carries social meanings and socan bring ver different tudinal Feactons,or even socal disadvantage or advantage. As Coupland (2007: 88 syn ‘Salect or accent variables may be alterarive ways ofachleving tive ways ofsaying. or meaning, “the same thing” Such sociolinguistic Issues underpin this book. ‘People hold atitudes to language a all it eves: for exarmple, pe {ngand punctuation, werd, grammar. scent and pronunciation, dix lects and languages Even the speed at which we speak can evoke rections. In this introduction, we wil tke examples rom some levels boflangusge. We bepinat the level of words. Infact. this lve oflanguage has received les attention overall In sociolinguistic work on language altitudes although chapter 6 reports some reseich ino lexical ave Sityand provenance Words nevertheless provide some good exerpli {ation here ofthe scope and pervasiveness of language attitudes. The Introduetion also considers the levels of grammar and accent and tcudes ro "whole languages and to codeswtehing. with an eye 00. ‘on standard language decogy Ic also ves sme nia insights into some of the concepts and other isues around language atltudes, ‘Aclosr look 2 the nature of atitaes wil ea fc in enaper 2 ons Some words ar expensive They can get you into arguments and fights ‘They can cost you Your job. On the other hand, some cu help to bring you success and money. Goddard (2002) points to the huge rum of ‘money that companies spend on choosing rand natmesin order to ty to ensure that these trigger desired connotations ané positive ath ‘tudes in potendial customers. She gives the exampieof the formation fof new travel company created in the mid-1990s, which was get ‘wo mala possiblities fora new brand name. One was"Destination® and the other was ‘Going Places, andthe company Inthe end pl ed for the latter. Anticipating the cal connotation ofthese to Candidates, they fle chat “Going Places” would be more strongly aes ated in People’s minds withthe @ymamism and moblity zh thelr Ireredtion a smassinarket customers aspired to, and which the company iself wanted to progetasits image “Much strategie work on wording goes on in the polities ld to. tn the USA. for example. Frank Luntz worked asa Republicn political consult, ring focus group seasons or Word abs) wih average ‘Americans’ to generate words and phrases to give to political cana date ous inthe campaigns to help get the reactions sey wanted ‘fom voters (Lemann 2000} Lemann writes ‘Anybody wo has to speak regulary to lve audiences sees that some combinations cf words do produce more and beter reactions than other p. 110) Example from tne’ advice included using “imate change’ instead of global war sing "tax reli” instead of tax cts. Lune was also reccmmending the reeated use of the words listening” and “hirer. because, he tIaimed, thie would attract female voters. ‘Why do you think Hilary {inton wenc on a “Ustening Tour” of New York, he asbed (p. 100. “Theldea of the Word Lab seems tobe to discover how voterare already thinking and then to design language to convince them tht polit flans already agree with them. Whether we lke this way of doing politics oF not, through framing political debate in this way this se of tanguage is most certainly aimed at atodes. Petsnal names are also worde thst reflec and evoke stitudes, it seems, Crystal (1987 and 1997: 113) lists the topten giver names for ‘ale and females inthe USA and in England and Wales aween 1925 find 1698, Clturlattitades lead to 3 tendency for boy” rames to be ‘more enduring, For example, "Michele was the top namefor gl 19701n the USA, but does not appear in any ofthe other US-op-ten ists between 1925 and 1989. In England and Wales, "Trace’ and “Sharon’ are inthe top ten only in the 1965 lit. In contrast, Rober appests in {he US tp ten from 1925 through 19 1982, and ‘David fesares nthe Englard and Wiles top ten from 1950 to 198, "ities to personal names canbe loked a from other gles than simple preferences for one name or another, or even regarding levels ‘oF coninsty. Barry and Harper (195) studied the ewenpive most frequent given names of ables born in Pennayivania jn 1960 and 1989. developing a‘phonaic gender tor’ bated on fetures ich as numbers of syllables, sess patterns and vowel quale, they found thar sec features dlsinguished there popular names of male and female, Referring to previous Findings by Dally and Ridinger that female names were Judged as mare attractive and that male names “were sre 35 more powerful they suggested tht ‘phone attributes $mightcontibute tothe perception ofa names attractive ce power {817 From this, then, we might surmise that a person’ name can have implications atthe lve of impresion formation, impacting on ur (atleast nial) spstion cowards that person, Ina similar sin, Smith 1958} developed an analy model called the ‘Comfort Factor to predict with reasonable acceray the results ‘of politcal elections, The model was constructed by asigning weights to a range of sound features in candidate names in pst electlons ‘Acknowledging the role of polit Issues and pare loyalty in elec Hons, Smith thought that many voters (specially ls decided ones) ‘mightnevertelessbe influenced by thesoudsof the cendidater names. ‘Applying his Comfort Factor made heclnimed that was ale to predet 185 per cent of the winners of presidential eections, apparently, then, the study was showing thatphoneticqualtesofeandistes names could have ome effect om people's attitudes and on thee behaviour towards the eandates inthe electoral proces. ‘A rather different study of ames was cated ou ty Haraet and David (197), ths time ina school setting in the USA. They wanted to examine whether teachers’ assessment of students performance Inight vary according to what the stodents names were ie. wheter teachers attitudes to thir students” names might be elected in the ‘marks the students received for their work. Generating ast of essays and allocating a range of names o each one, Hara and McDavid found that the grades awarded [by experienced teacher) in he stay were Indeed significantly higher when the esayewete aparently authored by students with names considered stractve ’An important diference between this study and those mentioned previously Is the explanation that Harari and MeDavid provide In the Previous studies the main attention was on the sound features of the ‘words ~strex rhythm, vowel qualities ete ~atd how there semned t9 alec attudes, This was seemingly a phonoaesthetic approach (see (Costal 1995) Harari and McDavid do not focus on such qualities that ‘might be viewed st inherent in the words themselves but considered the social stereotypes associated with the names. Stereotypes ate cog nitive shortcuts. Here, thea. when people hear about someone elle ‘Amol’. for example, they would tend fo place ther ina subjective category in which reside all Arnolds, and to then perceive and judge them inthe same way, positively or negatively, af tey ae all uch the same. In Interpreting thelr nding, Harari and McDavid employ the assumption that names that are more common aad seen st more attractive connote favourable stereotypes, and those hat ape rater and judged less attractive connote negative stereotypes, Scial stereotypes wl ecu in this book, since they feature large in ths language st. {des eld But ie also wort noting that we have touched on neocon 5 a controversy here: what i the bass of attitudes towards diferent tn- _Buage Features accents, te? Why do people tend to love someand hate Bthes? I it because af thelr inherent sound qualities (the iabereat ‘valve hypothesis, er isi de to thelr social connotation (he imposed norm Rypothesi? The latter is the generally held view (ee. for fuample, Giles and Powesland 1975 "Names, whether personal names, brand-names or mames of organise Hons afe of cous: certainly not the only words that pecple have attitudes towards that can evoke atitades, Inthe persaron field. ‘where there is often focus on influencing people's atiuder, ome research has been cone on expletives. and whether their uses 3m id ‘ora hindrance in hs attitudinal process The general finding seems to be thar the use of expletive isnot edvantageous in influencing other people's attudes. One study. though, alt found that, if fey ere Used they tended 0 work diferent according to whether they were ‘sey males or ferales Bostrom, Bascheat and Rosie (19731 grouped the expletives nt tre ype: religions, exretory an sexual. this US content. at least, enales seemed to have more ifunce If ey used sexual ebscenitis, whereas males seemed to have les influence with these than with excretory or religious ones. Interestingly, toa, females achieved nore attude change overall through the us of moreofensve language han males di regardless of which othe thre types they used, ‘While the stay ty Bostrom el aclude some important arabes listnguishing difteent pes of expletives and checking for diferences in the rections to speakers ofeach sex, subsequent theoretic! app roaches to commurieation have ghen more foe on bow inaracions engage with chaaceristcs of the person atthe hearing end. Comma ‘tion accommodation theory (efor example, ile, Mule, Bac and Johnson 1967) anges tat we have a tendency to adjust our syle of ‘communicating to those with whom we are communicating i order (0 {ain Cree social approval and improve communlestion, So if we know {hat the person weate tlling to usualy uses alt of scents. we rmight evoke more stv attitudes from them if we oureles employ them, Communication accommodation they is a significant theory Inthe language stirs feld and one we wil look at more osly in shapter7 [AE the other end af the spectrum from the use of obscenities comes the careful choice of words to wid easing offence. Politi coree ‘ness concerns language eeferring to a variety of social groups: for ‘example, nanrocst and nonserist speech. Its gal of projecting post tive images also intended to generate ore positive attitudes and ‘more constructive tehaviour towards the socal group concemed 3nd ‘hereby lead toa more inclusive society, But what do we know about peoples atudes towards attempts at making speech more politically Correct Some esearch has demonstrated tht using polity corect Janguage can be a ficult even if worthwhile pth, Seite, Laren and ‘Skinner (1996 for example, leaked at people’ reactions to campaign ‘mater designed to rate donation for people with salts. hey were represented in four diferent waysseghandicapable’ ‘confined © 2 wheechaie, "uses a wheelchair or‘sbnormal’ Communicators using terms uch asthe fst three were regarded a more trustworthy and competent than thoreusingermsikethe fourth, ut the communicator Win took the poltalycorect option and tre mo o refer to people With disabilities as victims ~ Lethe one who used terns such 38 uses 3 \wheeehale’~ was ao more succesful in raring donations than the one Wo wsed terms suchas ‘abpormal- Ie sems tha people have to present more urgency and ned in their communication if they want to get people give money "There ate two important poms to ake aay rom this study at this stage. One is thatthe relationship between attitudes and behavior is problenati In dis stay, respondents eld a positive attitude tasome Communicators seeing them as competent and trastworthy~ but his Aid nocansiate inc the postive ation of donating money, The cond |s that a ey feature in language aides research i the stereotypical view ofspeakers interme of personality tale Way of speaking ive rise 1 judgaments of people's honesty, competence, ineligence, enthist asin. et: These ae two more aspects of language attest wil De recuing i this bool, Other words evoke attades with 2 xomewhat though not entirely) iterere focus. relating to public controversies ove langage wage, 1 my school English lesions in England, attention was often rather tediousy drawn to socalled vulgar Influencer fom across the North Adan "Hopetly’ was 2 word that often surfaced We contin hopefully on our way’ was viewed as correct. ut ‘Hopefully, thit lm won ext long” wa sald t be poor English because a film eannoe last hopeful "hope this lm wont astlng’ or Testo be hoped that hit fm wen’ at long’ were sid to be the correct modes of expression. Cryst 1996:177)0 mentions the hopeluly phenomenon, andadds “tis unlea why this particular adver should have attracted so nach adverse criticism, when many other adverbs ate used ina similar way ‘thank. eprettably, sadly. happly. etc” Tn any event. "hopefully has brought ws into the azena of public arguments about Enis usage Readers wl doubiess be particularly ‘ware ofthis area of atitudes abou language and languages, n part Ineaducion 7 ‘because such complaints feature so commonly and explicitly in eve ay discourse Since these ao reat to some concepts that are funds ‘mental to the language stitudes Geld, we will examine some ofthese in this chapter too. STANDARDISATION IN LANGUAGE tues towards language. postive and esate. are ofen nfuenced ‘je proces ofsandardston{nansiasex Many language ae id ‘olive astandad varie Standard bth Eng, oreample Mlipy (207120) wees hatin such instances, angoage ates ae don ‘nated by powerfl colo positon tha are age Based onthe ‘ippoed existence ofthis standard form, and tes. ken together, Can be sido comstute the andar language Wealogy or ideology of the standard language” Gener, daptoday lng. people re spent ot conscious ofthe inuence ofthese eco! poston. but tend 9 work on the basis that such norms ae simply s question Miro (2007 sess that standardisation of any kind is concerned ‘wh unlmutyandiovartane and how nstandadlanguage del. Rest enphass plage. stacy. Preston (1955) hs ehere TEs USK the overwhelming degre to which apes to cores i. ‘peste the way In which peopl alk shout language In standard sing Wolter are strong pervading commonsense vews abut ie language farms are right snd which ae wrong. The novon fcrzectns is einfred bs authorly, Standard languages are cod {dictionaries and grammar books fo cramp ahd Spree oUg cational seme They ae lo enforced byte awarding of pretge trina tolangige forms The devaluing of some orm eso 3c Sf them at nonstandard or substandard, Milroy (207 28) wits," STandardlanguges have tobe ghen legitimacy and al have to De ‘alnained and protected rough author apd dons of comet es. There usualy radon of popular complaint sbout language. Bewling the low gut of general wage and ming Wa ee fagets degenerating 138) In cysts (1981 isto the toptwenty objections about broadcast Inglanguage Inthe UR one ofthe pronunciation gripe concerned he ‘word controversy. ad the cai that to pronounce fe wth thee tary sures on te second alale = contoneny wong, and tat the correct oa has primary sea on the ist slble= conor ‘To add peronal nae, 1 recall this complaint 00, «roping Gp im School English lessons, with the fist of these wo pronunciations ‘uthwedasvalgar Americanism’ and therefore one we should never tbe crught using) Algeo (1958) ako refers to thie attribution of the ‘contoversy variant to American English thie time by'a Knowledge British author}. and Ageo disputes hisbell "this antepenult accents unknown in the Stats, being a recem Bish innovation (p. 177) ‘The example rales to isver, One i the dificly in standarlsing and fixing 2 sil phenomenon that i inerenty characterised by ‘hange and variation, and the ater Is that many ofthe jusifeations for tresestiudes are premised on misconceptions about language lueobgies can promote stong commonsense notions that can be views a distortion or myths “Tradgi (198) writes about the myth that words should not be allowed to change or vay their meaning. He also points to how some ‘People wil look rather to mich at the origins of words in orer to angue thelr ‘rea meaning. For example, he mentions how they might Conder English speakers who talk about there being ‘several tema. tives onthe grounds that ‘alternative’ comes from the Latin word ‘ltr rmeasing’second’, and to there cannot be more than two ehoies 1. ‘Tradl extends the argument tothe word "nic. the origins of which 0 buck to IndoEuropean rots that woud give it the meaning “not utting”."Noane in their right mind though’ head, would argue that ‘he "eal" meaning once” "noc eutng” (2). [At the level of grammar, Chesite (198) comments on the attitudes to the use of double negatives in English. "You don't know nothing exempliles the type of double negative that arouses the strongest atttwes, and Cheshire notes that featured in the top ten complaints ‘sent inf the BBC Radio Four serlesEnpoh Row in 1986, with some saying that it'made thelr blood ball (Cheshire 1998: 114) This a way of exressing a negative that is condemned by standard language eolegyin Briain. AS Cheshire observes, seems fo be ony in Standard Englih cha such double negatives attract such negative attitudes. CComplaines say tae they ae logical and nonsensical, betaise the ‘wo mgatives must canes ech other ou to make s postive Cheshire '1998:120) points ou that. in the real worl, not only are such double negates Used nproblematialy In the majo of the words lat _guigs, but they are aso found inal the rural and ban dialects of [Engi in both hemispheres, as well in African American English Inroduction ° and in ll English creole Within Standard English, though, they ase ‘igmatied and tend tbe associated with lowstatus groups sce Sich associations between language and social groupe area pervading feature in language atitudes ‘The disapproval o this kind of double negative in Standard English s aimost cerainy ileatiable with the eightenticentary hope that Jenguage could be fixed, a time when grammarians were ying 1 struct Set of norms in order to establish and then preserve goad ‘wage. Such attempts have been refered 10 a5 an illusion based o0 risunderstandings about the nature of language, valves ané haman| nature (Algeo 1998175, Nevertheless, the process has ef astrong mar on moderndayattides, amongt some a east "The apostrophe has also attracted considerable comment at times. hasan interesting history in English, andssomehing oa latecomer is present usage, that i wae not until the nineteenth century tht ‘gammarians red toimpote the curent grammatical rules (ee Anstn 1988: Garrett and Austin 1993: Toss 2003) Moder attitudes are varied, andes longue agreat dea of lingering uncertainty about standani ‘wage. Garrett nd Austin 1999)asked groups of university undergrad Stes in Britain and Germany, and a group of trainee English language {eacher, 0 say how serous they judged varius apostrophe rors tobe in English. Errors where apostrophes were included In plurals eg we sal et radios) were seen 3+ more of concern than others, but overall ‘one ofthe errors were judged to be particulary serious (no higher than about the midpoint on 3 five-point scale from ‘unimportant’ to ‘ery serious). The respondents auributed least importance to casts where apostrophes were simply omitted. ts clear to, that apostropie missions unlike the double negatives above, ae nt associated solely “with lowstatus sodal groups. Reputable Bitish Insitutions such a Harrods, Selfridges, Boots and Lloyds Banking Groupssem atsomestage tehave made policy decisions not to use sportophes in their names eee ‘Gystal 1996) ‘There are many other usages that some people ae vexed by. Ending sentence with prepositions (Ihave just done), spliting infinitive, ‘yng Tele me’ rather than Its are other favourites, again attempt Dy grammarians to impose standard norms, and sometimes by rele ig tothe grammatical ules of language that works very aiferenty ‘fom English: Latin. Infntives ace tingle words in Latin. Althoug ‘there are some instances of single words sometines bing spit in coll: ‘guial English speech = ‘absobloodylutely"~ Latin infinlives wore not ould sem reasonable t assume, spit. English infinitive forms have vo components to speak. to walk et. ~ oflering scope for plitng, 0 srerrupes ro LaNcuAGE “The English rule iself- chat nothing should come between ‘to! and ‘pea’ ee ~ was also formulated ater lt, in he nineteenth century. 0 these negative atiudes to splitting infnitves are compartivly "cent. Crystal (1984) nots that thee were no complaints about them ‘before the nineteenth century Preston (1996) polnts to ov, when there fs persistent use of non standard language forms, people often refer tothe ‘internal recognition system that users ofthese forms have, which allows them to ier ‘oc only the ‘error oftheir ways" but also what the features of there system are. So there appear to be a flview that ‘Nonstandard speakers are not simply thse whore envionment lst. snd Tack af ‘opportunity have fled to equip with the standard varity. they sre also persons who have somehow rejected the deeper internal knowledge ‘whieh they surely haveabour the corect way to behave at lent inguis ‘cally p58. Indeed, debates about the importance of standard language also extend toarpumentsabout malraining other Kinds ofstandards Along side the enduring notion that the language is going to the dog the notion that people whe donot adhere to the rues of standard language ae themselves going othe dogs Tollustate,Graddol and Swann (988 102) cite Norman Tebbit, former Conservative Cabinet Minister hn Margaret atcher's Conservative government you allow standart sip othe stage where good English i no ‘tran od English where people tern pithy steel all ‘hose things fend cute people to have ostandards allan you lose standards then there no ipertve tsay out ferme, ‘This lose asocatlon between judgements of language and judgements ‘ofthe people who use the language ir what underlies the stereotypical ‘ralations of language considered throughout this book LaNouasEs ‘There are aso strong negative attitudes about whole language’ rather (han aspects of usage within a language. Baer (1998) potnts to caims sometimes made that some languages have no grammer or example She notes that, if something is 3 language, then i ut by definition have a grammar. Simllary, there fs8 common belie that Some lem sages are incapable of fling 4 wide range of finetions They te often claimed not to be sultable or writin iterate or example. [Tor conducting afar of sate. These cots of attitudes are often Irteducton a expressed about minority anguaves Harlow 1998 referstoa newspaper stile aboot Maoe, for example, which cnimed that Mor was no ga because it needed to borrow words fom English to express ne dea rane (1998, wring sbowt Aboriginal languages, also mentions ths stererype listang the flawed asi of Such claims by refering the adaptation of Walp, and the fact that Walp can now be used = discuss wudnt pls ‘These are important matters. In the cate of indigenous minoriy languages. for example (Welsh in Wales Maoe in New Zealand, etc such attitudes can play a key role in whether they survive, revive ‘eflourish, or whesher they die ov. ax parents op using them wits "esearch i caried out settings where languages are in competition Sd where some speakers feel under threat AS wil be see Iter in ths book, a great del of research hasbeen cased out in settings such 3: Gonads and Wales “The labelling of anguage behaviour and language i also a window into people's atiader, Jorgensen and Quist (2001: 42), for example, rite about how inmigrant minority languages in| Denmark ome Viewed a 3 "nulsasce’Ieigrant minority languages tend to attract {he mest negative attitudes ftom major language communities. tk addition. pidgins, which are language systems that develop when people do not share a common Language but need to communicate {forexample, for uading, and which are the main means of commun «ation for milion people (Crystal 1937: 334) have sometimes been ‘haractersed a bib fal reflecting primitive thought processes, and Inbeled ‘snongrel jargons' or “macaroni lingos" (Holmes 2001: 84. Creoles (pigins tat have expanded in functions and structure and have gained nave speakers) ae often viewed equally negatively by ‘outsiders, ‘cOESWITCHING “Amongst bilingual and multilingual, coeswitching Is a powerful ‘feature of informal communication. Speakers may switch between Tanguages withoue necessarily being aware off, to signal slider ity with a particlar social or ethnie group. for example. oF 10 ‘express their atiude towards the listener (friendly, distant, et} Bu ‘codeswitching is often frowned upon. especially by monolingual, and ‘ismissed at “pibberish’ (Edwards 1994278) and piven labels sch a2 “Terex, “ranglasJaplish usualy meant derogatory ‘ten the evaate scout rod codeswthing i sen tems of "asin an mpurty. qualities extended to spears mh at ‘efetng to language Bt hee sie ase poweral cs of a ‘entty pesentor he speakers theses Tok the most spread cote gus ranc a Ppa New Gunes now wth est €F oficiales lnguage of sodeiy betrcen Pap New Gina wit fren verncsar lines 201 9) Caeeentng tory be al empha ane ec Hema mater Actas demonstration fa frm fcodewitching a mate, indeed serio of scl ety ocurred nt yy Dou sd Ges 1977 exploring communion acrmmatton then. ta whic we rete ar when consdring expen thse {he researchers vere inestiatng poo sig thet peach nr cs ways toward convergeac an say fom egret lout whether making shite winx angae oe sching es Jenguaps Weis ngyage lester in lngunge borane {oat of guests recorded bys bth Enlsh seer ec Pronunciation} and ha top thel swe now mlcepon, and these were ore, Some the taney were aking the Web lange core or exer orp wit thr mpage paying fr thecourseand slowing thet pursue lather work hous tee hers were taking the cose tht own ite ea te oe “sponse bea they vied their Wess Aer bearing soe {eral question: nd recording ter answers in Enis the eam heart the recorded sper cllengng them ast wy they were ‘ening saying nnguage with a sal frre tally eso ‘at'iem and mentoning tat be was fom Engine tnt tal paw, the sccond group of eames beaut segs shir Webstacerted Englsh wi some of them ituoducng ese words nd phrase into ther epee On often tmp fl see {ersoine sean thn camiy congted so cbnene Web ve ints ‘he miropone:a unambiguous aeons enn he ce of threatening sn demeaning poston ACCENTS Apart fom the complaint tradition inthe media around grammatical ‘usage, pronunciaion of parievar words ee. that wete considered above. there are abo frequent stories inthe media concerning the sth "dest various accents and their effects on people’ ie opportunities Imratucon a erander (1983), for example, in an aril tn the New Yoo Tei) Aeseribed how many immigrants into the US. although uentin English, | often seekspeech therapistsand tutorsin order o'redue' thet accents Morris (195) reports the same phenomenon in Britcn. While many ‘worry whether by taking such courses they are sacrificing thei culcral deni, Hemandes notes that “remarks, giber and ridicule about ecents-causd anger isecurityand shame anda fecirg that they were being cheatl of the opportunity 1o assimilate. Hermandee reported one Colombian student a saying ‘this lass is my lst hope it doesn't workout, Pm gong back to my country was practislrlsed in this Country... 3ut | have this accent. Does this mean that Iam not an ‘American? { do’t know” References tg-aceent reduction classe often trop upin termed, s some people fin that they sound tc dierent fd fel thas they face social oF career barrier. whtover the legal protection (Se, for example, Swit 2007) ‘Stories abait British ginal accents range from postive ro negative tides. survey reported onthe BBC News website (BEC 2005) claimed that some resonal accents were bad for trade, particularly Liverpool. Binmingham, Cockney, Geordie andthe West Country accents. In con tnt, Home Couns, along with Scots, American, European, indian and ‘Asian accents were viewed a a ign of succes. Morris (129) reported hows. nthe 1970s one by at hisschoo war not allowed tbe 3 member ofthe TV Top ofthe Form school tem because the scool regarded his ‘Brstolan English 2s ‘unsultable for broadcasting ‘Aittudes 0 regional accents seem to ge a variable pres, Writing in ‘the Guardia, Ward (2000 reported thatthe Liverpool (Scouse) acceat had tured Lerpoo int a favourite location for eallentres in Britain, and quoted an investment manager assaying Tes not seen a3 barier to business’ Khan (2003) reported "The daminance of soft regional accents in eal centres may be put down (othe establishment of oper dons in ares where land is cheaper andjobshardertocome by than in the South Eat ut telecoms bosses admit that aecens played part In determining where they sti Inthe medi itself han noted that in the previass decade, the BEC made a conscious move to diversify accents on it Radio Three and Radio Four, feeling thei war logging Behind ‘the sound ofthe nation’ and beginning to sourda biantigue ‘One ofthe most famous stories of a pioneering BBC move towards the use of eponal accents dates back vo the Second Worlé War, when ‘Wilfed Piles war the Rist national newereder to speak vith 3 herm English Yorkshire) accent. along with one or two dialect ‘egtures. The Minis of lformation was aleady convened that Nas propagandistshad become adept at speaking with BEC Oxford accents, M arriTues vo LaNcuAcE ad was keen to minimise the rs that, i Britain were invaded, the public might bemisled by ordesissued bythe enemy over the ratio One ‘rategy then. was 19 use accents that were much harder fr them to “imitate, But, in addition to this, and in a clear dlepay of language atutudes ofthe time, the Depaty Prime Minister (Clement Ale) ped "mat the monopoly oFuppereas readersonthe BEC news was ofcaing working people. The Ministry of Information therefore suggested that ‘Something might be done to dennis the presen predominance ofthe cultured voice upen the wirles’ (Curran and Seaton 2008 142) But, Wilfred Pieke’newsteading attracted an avalanche of complaint fom Asteners Pickles (194) himself wrote that he wae the ‘ental feature in a heated national controversy. He was “caicatured inercilessy (argreaves 2004) by London eartooists, drawn with cloth exp and ‘olledup shirsleees. stereotypes arepeturesin the head Lippmann 1922) simplified images of what groupe look like an what they , then this fs a good visual instance of hove language featores can tigger 2 hole set of associated attributes that go Far beyond the language sel Media reports of dismissals from jobe on accent grounds re even ‘more striking. O'Mara (2007) reported that an Inlanborn customer advisor from the UK who was employed to train staff a 3 communt ‘ations firm's office in New Delhi, was dlemiseed because he spoke with an indian accent and so his accent was not English enough’ tobe ‘working with these people in New Delhi. He successfully brought 2 charge of racial discrimination aginst the employer. However, RPis not immune fom such controveties, a sign perhaps of how the balance of arcades towards RP has changed within the UR (eg se Muggestone, 2003, on the rite ofthe regional in and since the 1960), Nowadays according to Moris (1999), RP ls much more pop lar withthe 1.5 billion speakers of Eoglsh abroad And indeed Betish ‘actor Stephen Fy i reported in the Dally Telegraph (21 March 2007) ‘ss saying somtimes wonder ifAmerlean aren't fled by our accent into detecting a briliance that may nor relly bo thre? Beesin Itself, Zenab Ahmed. who was suddenly dlamssed (fom her Job 2 BBC news presenter, wrote the fllowing letter to the Duly Teigroph (20 october 2003; The BAC has sacked me fr Sounding a0 po. At he momen, "ie Wond Serie on & mission to sound cles hence the Proliferation of cash Welsh eh and Asta voles My ‘cent recived preaacition “fe sescatd with white ie ‘dst demagrpnic Which is onic bees Tam mixed South Sandoner aiakstan.Ralnglsh and rom a wry ordinary Sckround Inaeducion 6 Inia Knight (2001) maintains that RP speakers in Britain are nowadays “smmediately viewed with hostile suspicion, the implication being that you ate probably some ghasly plum nob, our vey existence cor firming the fact that tere are stil people who sneer dw ther tong. ‘welled nosesar the ples: Wesball becoming acros Ra great dea this Doo, since iehas been the focus of mich research in the lnguage rucudes le oer the years both within the UK and fntermationaly. Such evidence of changing language attudes suggests some qual ‘ing or espprasal of Miley's (2007) ideas about standard language ideology set out earier in the chapter, and indeed other views on standard language ideology have recently been emerging. Coupland (2000), for example, emphasises the socal change of recent decade, and the social conditions ofthe present day (ate mogeri- He pois to features of latemodern if. such 38 mediatsation (wih far mone diverse media formats than previously and te growth ofserviceased “employment, which often pace greter demands on individuals to pre Sent themselves atactively and competently. He argues that thee require, generate and reflect 2 rociolinguirtc diversisy that works gaint the singular vale system contained within the notion ofstané- ard language ieology suggested by Mizoy. Coupland (2009) proposs that linguistic varieties refered eo as “standards” and “dialects ate coming to hod diferent, generally less determinate and more complex ‘alsin Intemodern socal oder p.#). CONCLUSION In this chapter then, we ave looked at language attitudes ata variety of levels, and ina variety of contexts. The field of language atitudes Indeed encompasses broad range of foc, and there can also therefore ‘bea range of reasons fr studying them. Fo socolinguiss, one impor ant poal haz been to construct ‘record of overt ati toad language, lnglstic feature and lingustle stereoeypes(labov1966:33. From this perspective, language atirudes research provides a backrop forexplaiing linguistic variation and change Bt language atticndes fewer extend tall manner of sociolinguistic nd social pyehotogcal phenomena suchas how we pesiion ourselves fecilly, and how we relate to other individuals and groupe They may aifect behaviours and experiences. For example. do some language cides lead co ceraln groups feg. speakers of certain dialects ‘minority languages) faring better oF worse in labour markets. oF ia eople’ language behaviour (avoiding the ut of certain words or ‘amma scares aking scent rection propane, o ee Ingtousea minor language, oreven promoting mere) Aodhe! goul isto uy wo establish what ger ie to these ates Many sca uss have tended to focus on parculringuistie fom for example. iors ing wrth nig ofr Fl onthe eastern seaboard ofthe USA Socal poycoloi of ena have tended to workata less peice regarding linguist feaares: 2g Scotiah Engh Tanguage aude cues can alo tll abut ditfernces within and across communides If ates ae learned hen some SOUR oF faring are rated to soll group memberp. So tudes ay ‘nyacordingtoetinicregtonal snd soca and peesonal groups ot ‘rample. 8 general dficl o disngush snd co lanage ‘rei om tes othe perv group rd communi met ters who tte them. Language varctis andthe forms are ofeh ot ‘imply characteris ofa community. but even estrine whats dtnce in inthe community aod tn see ‘onstatthat commun. iin, language ates researchers are intrested tt how st Yoana jodgements are tected by the sacl conte in which he an fag oeurs A particu langue variety or ay of speaking an for ‘rarpl. meer wh advantageous ties in some pelican bt ‘ecient ones inate an ethos moreso in ths ntemodera coc Some of the pints and stores touched on i this chapter vl undoubtely not be entirely unfamlior ground te seme readers. Bat treading path through thee a drawn fogeter stitial materia fom some very vee contexts to demonstrate ie extense ii ‘ance of language atitader nour eeeyay ives, Wha alo allowed 2 {is fray ino some othe es that ae ental he eld of woke ‘br example language ieologies, notions of consctess and pur. sone language myts sondern asudinal ances, language ee {ues and communication betsvous aimed changing oF Teming specific attuds in other people, social and altura streoype tating whole clusters of suites to be ttc with language ‘om personality tats, moral standing, even drs les sarer cuarrers Fillowing on fom this general orientation to Inguage atitudes, ‘chapter 2 fooks more systematically at some cote theoretical isses "regarding what attitudes at, to provides foundation for understanding Irroducton v this fed of research. Chapter 3 outlines and exemplifies te main ways in which researchers have approached the stay of language atitades ‘his lays the ground for the general arrangement of the subsequent chapters in terms of research caried out under each ofthese 3pp> roaches studies n the tradition of matched guise and its variants societal treatment sade, stdies using various direct methods, and fally a more iterated approach, The book reaches back othe early development oflanguage attitudes researc, particularly fom the 1970 and 1500s working through to contemporary work, particulary fa {he later chapter, showing the historical groweh ofthe fed ethos ims to show how our knowledge of language atitudes has grown fover the yeas, ad Indeed how some ofthe eave studies have since been extended 0° undergone some replication. I will aso be more ident aw marge detest essed developed "To some extent. the geographical and cultural contexts covered in| ‘the book tend to reflect. on the one hand, those on which there has been much research published, and, on the othe, those in which the Zuthor has hed ost involvement, Wales, which has aways enjoyed 3 treat deal of reearch activity in language atiudes, features fe (quently therefore but many ether contexts are als include. FURTHER READING ON CHAPTER 1 For more on misconceptions about language: Sauer L and Trudi (ds) 1908, Language myths London: Penguin For further reading on language ideology Coupland, N 2003 Dskets, standards and socal change, in M-Maegar, .Gregeisen, Quist and} Norman Jorgensen es) ang ata, Lippe Green, 1907, elena an ane ongage eo od derinination he Und Stat Landon and New Yor: Ruled Maroy. ad Mos, L198 Autry lengua esting tanta Trish: London! Routedge ‘QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER 1 {Im this chapter, we looked at how some language features can ‘evoke strong reactions in people, make ther blood boil et Can ‘youd hiss in any Language with which You ate allt? ‘What sorts of explanations do people give for thir reactions? Whats your own view? 2. How do people tale sbowt the various languages spoken in your country, and the people who speak them? 5. What Is your view on ‘sccent reduction classes? 2 Fundamentals of language attitudes ‘This chapter covers some ofthe Fundamental isues around attudes, sich at their constitution, origins, functions, qualities of stability and ehange, and their relation to stereotypes and ideology. inevitably, these tase aspects tend to concern atitodes generally rather than language stiudes specifically, FUMING ATTITUDE In easy workon atid Allport (1998 80) claimed shat asoude wae the most indispensable concept in social psychology, and It has been 3 coreconceptinsocilinguistcssince boy’ 1966)seminal work onthe socal stratification of speech communities, and how language change ie influenced by the prestige and stigma afforded by speech commtr nities to specifi linguistic features. The concept of sttude, however, noceasly defined, Definitions vay in thelr degree of elaboration and in ‘the weighting given to different features of attitudes. ‘To take one or wo exampes, Thurston (1991) defined an ative as “alec for of sglnst »payeholgical objec. emphasising the postive and negative emotional responses that atitudes embovy. A wellcted definition was given by Allport (1954) "3 learned dapositon to thin, Teeland behave toward a person (or objec) ina particular way: Thisone, ‘hen, highlights that atcudes concern more than affect alone, and ‘extend to thought and behaviou to, Oppenelm (1982 aso incorpor tes cogitve and behavioural aspects, but inches in his definition ‘more elaboration ofthe ways in which atitudes are manifested consti, an abstraction which cannot be dtety apprehended Inisan nse companctt of mentale which expeter el ecly triadic. rh much sore ous prveae at treoQypes ic verb sistent or renctontee ad Opens See ‘ec anger orstifation or rome the emotion and in various ter aspects of behaviour p39 1s 2» ArrrTupEs To Lancuace ‘These thre definition set outa ange issues that ge talked about ‘elation to attitudes, and these ate taken up inthe following sections, rude ts 3 psychological construct. Constructs eatiot be observed tly, and 30 we have to rely on ou ables to infer them fom the Sorts of things that Oppenheim lists: emotional reactions, statements ‘The ft that we cannot observe attudes directly doce not mean that they ae bogus, that we ar just “maging things Perot (2008, 58) argues that mental and emotional ahenomena are no fest sea chan Physical behaviours. In another oftencited statement, Allport (1235), ‘maintains that ‘Atues are nee grey bere, bt, unless they are ated, rough inference 25 al and sobstalingrediens i ota ‘ate, icbecmes imposible a aaunt atactory es che nitency of ny Individuals behaour,o fo the sbi tna society (839) ‘he status of tides as prychological constructs rings dificult in ‘cessing them. This isthe reason why there i slways «great desl of ‘debate about how we can study them, throughout stitudes reacarch and throughout this book, Beyond this basic characteristic of being a construct. it suse to take general and simple’core’ definition and then to elaborate ont by looking a various aspects of attitudes about which there Hs resonsble consensus. Sarno (1970: 279) provide sucha cove in his denitlon of an altitude as disposition to reat fevourably or unfavourably #0 4 ‘iss of objects Using this a starting poi ie ken asa given dat sm attitude i an evaluative aventation to a social abject of some sore Winther i is a language, or anew government policy. et. And, a 4 ‘isposion’. an attitude an be seen at having a degree of sty hat allows to beidentied FACETS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF ATTITUDES ‘Attitudes are seen as complex through thelr posessng various fice and manifestations. To take an example from an educational context, Stove wanted to study students atitodes‘owards thei Swahili language lessons, we would need to esas the relevant faces ofthese aude what do we (andthe students} mean by and include ender ‘Swai language lesions? he facets inolvee could include the Swabil language isl, classmates, teaches, easing methods, materiale and key ToPIcs my sociouiNcuIsTICs Sort ter: ajend Mestre ‘Tis new seis facts om the main topes feu in soiolinglscs Today fe cose of aecesible ye challenging acount of the mest Important iss fo consider when examinig the relationship between Tanguage snd scy- Some topes have beer te subje ofsciolingwistie ‘uu for many Years anda hee reesamined in the Hight of nee ‘evelopment he Bel others are ious 3 growing importance that fave nota far been given ustained weatment. Wren by lading ‘epee he boo nthe stor ae designe be sud on couse an i ‘nara include ust suggestions for further eading and help lossy. Atvendy published i the series: tenes by Reha J Wats Langage Poli by Berard Spolsky Dicey Jan Blommaert Anan Sciingeie Variation by Sal A. Tagiamoate Language ant tnt by Carmen Fought Se by Nikolas Coupland ‘Wold gle by Rajon Mestre and Baksh Bhatt Langage and nt by John Eder Fortheoming ties: ‘agua Tal by Peter Auer ‘Senin and Sc Ty by Nikolas Coupland Language Aton by Mota S. seh ‘ndementas of longuageatiades a activites, types of asesament, perhaps even the physial environment ‘of the classtom, When we consider manifestavons, we are concerned “With how these atitudeswil reveal themecves ous (asin Oppenein’ “Sefintion abore: what ill we sare for In our restate inorder (0 Identity and try to intepret, measure or assess attitudes? We might Simply se what dhe students have to say about ther feelings and exper ees by interviewing them inavidualy orin groups. orby asking them ren to Keep dares asthe course progresses, Thee salsoan option of aking them to complete attitude tng cals, of we could uy to infer thei attudes from how attentive Sind productive they aren these lesions. resources allow, we might {think fe use to look 4 range of different manifestations and se if ‘they scom to tll us thesame story ot. together give us fuller story. Deelsions on facets ané manifestations are central to designing the research, ATTITUDES AS INPUT AND OUTPUT tis also generally accepted that attinids can funeton as both input nto and output fom social action. ln areas such 25 educational ‘esearch and language planning this potential duality i partculariy Important To take the case of Welsnlanguage education in Wales ‘Baker (1952: 12) seer stitudes towards the Welsh language 36 an {important input factor the earning and general revival ofthe Welsh language, Favourable aitudes may provide te impetus towards high levels of achievernent i Welsh language programmes. From the other (Ge, output) direction, sucess in a Webslanguage course for begin- nets may ceate more positive atitudes o the language. Language planners and edeationst offen pursue ther projects ith the hope that attitudes wl serve this King of two-way function. "jeyond the educational context atitudes also play rolein both the ception nd the production of language. language atines andthe Sociocultural norms that they relate to are an integral part of our ‘communicative competence [Hymes 1971} 0 in terms of ou evergday foe of language, language atiudes would be expected not only 10 Inluence our reactions to other language users around us, but also {erhelp us anticipate others responses to our own language use ands0 influence the language choles that we make as we communicate. In an eff: to gain the spec responses that we seek from other people, ‘ve might faeon’ourspeech in vatious styles. Thus, we might ty £9 bbe seen ae friendly, a¢ intelligent, as being a member of a particular 2 Arritypus 70 taxcusce ‘community 1s dypamic and asthe best person forthe job ete (See Coupland 2007) 'n the reception and production of language to, the, atiudes can ‘be understot in terms of input and output. es 3 cc of influence between soci cognition and Tanguage variation. Considering this ‘yam relatonship between language’ and Tanguage ates cies 4 Coupland 1991: 5) in faut argue thatthe Evo Need not even be ‘separated conceptually. One point to bean ind here. though i that when atituds are considered in hese term of input and eutp they are cssentally being strongly linked (as Input to or ouput from) ith ‘behaviour. The relationship between Behaviour and atitues 1 com: sidered when we look at Ideas about the structural composition of ataudes, ATTITUDES ARE LEARNED ‘Allpor’s definition of=titudepoins to aticudes as being things that we lear, rather than as innate. tn fet, there is some recent research that Area actors may also influence attitudes (Teer 1993) A stady of ‘ins in the USAand Australia concues that both genetic hertbi {and socal ensronment contribute (Alford, Funk and Hibbng 200, ‘Tere is a yet, though. no clear evidence tht such influences impact on Language atitudes specifically, and so this is not pursued here Suffice i to sa for ou presenc pusoses that we lean aru, and {hat we do his rough avarety of means fora rieFoveview.se win 2001: 2111, Two important soutces of attudes ae our personal exper. ‘ences and our cial environment. including the median Various process may be involved in ou learning of attitudes. One of these is obsrvational learning, which involves noticing the bch. ‘our of other prope and the consequences of that behaviour. Another 'sSnstromental tearing, where we ei to the consequences of atiudes and whether these bring rewards or atriments For example. some fondamenal language atiudes evakiatvely distinguishing 4 familiar nonstundard language variety fom a standard one) havebeen {ound to become established 35 we enter the school ystems chlren (eg, Day 1982) This suggests that parents and teachers can have some Fale in the dereopment of such atitudes atte persontopeon level, ‘consciously of not. Parents might indicate approval or agreement _attmes when thelr chron express attitudes with which they them Sseves concur, Our experiences of the media may alo influence att "des in some seas. (We may also ofcourse oppose the spc attitudes Fandamentl of language aiuder = that the media ~ and indeed individuals ~ project) Medis portrayals ofthe elderly for example, have been foun generally to sereonpe them as frail, unattractive, uses (Wiliams abd Giles 1998), though ‘with some more positive stereotypes emerging in some recent tudes (es Willams. Manne and Wadleigh 2007} And television advertise: ‘ments have been (ound to reinforce rather than bring ino question ‘conventional attindes to gender roles Mansted and MeCulloeh 198 Language controversies as shown in chapter 1, ls frequently surice inthe media, and in so dolng Keep these ‘sues on the public agen, 243 fra point forthe shaping, reinforcement oF change of tues, ATTITUDE STRUCTURE. -Aiudes have often Been aed about in ters af three components ogtion, affect ana behavout All thre are evden inthe define ‘Apr: and by Oppenheim mentioned atthe sr of ths chapter ‘Anutues re copie insofar they oman of comprise ble abet the world, and the eatonships between objeto socal sigan «judgements of standard language vais tending robe assocaed ‘wn highstas fobs, rods reafcurein hate vole eles Sout theatre object Tiss fective aspect of atitdesira brome ‘favourably and unfavourably. oF detent 0 which we appEve ‘or dapproe a the atte bee Tis postetonegatve att ‘i ofettadesisusuallyaugmented by snassesmen often ‘example, whether we milly dispgyve of something owe well nd truly ees Tay he behavourateomponentoFatstudes cones the predisposition ro actin eran way. a pers in ways that re conssient with our cogive and affective Judgements terms of language. shen, i we were considering 4 stents ste Twsde Spanish asa orig language. we oul talk about 3 cognitive compe ehu(she bles that leering Spanish wile era deepe understand ing of Spanish culture. an aleve component fhe i emtisiec about beng able to read Ieratue itn In Span and» bat ional component She ving money to enol ona Spanish couse "There some quessoning over the stu ofthese tre components In elton wate Recent views war gas equting ther th tudes themselves Cognition alec and behaviour can insend been morn terns of eusesand tigger of tues Heme or exam motores fet) might bring to mind am tide objet snd its sections OF the action ofa tite might tigger 98 of «toate for ermpl, Clore and Schall 200; Peston, n pres ™ [Arrrrupes To LaNcuace STRUCTURAL RELATIONS OF ATTITUDES [Although atciude is often viewed in terms of cognition, affect and behaviour. there i some diculy in determining the interconnect es ofthese, andthe extent Co which we should anyway expet them bein agreement all the ie. This san important eve in the aeuces Gass and Seiter (1999: 41), for example go sla sto cai that “there wouldn't be much point in studying attudes if they were not. by and lage, predictive of Behaviour. A commonsense view about the ‘lationship benacen attitudes and behaviour can lead people to ssuine {hat f the are able to change someone’ thud trade something. then the person's behaviour wil also change accordingly. Common: sense views can alo lead peoplevo assume that, iFwe look athow people behave, we can safely infer what their attitudes re A farther common assumption is that if we an get someone to start behaving n'a eran ay, thcirateuds wil simply follow along afterwards to support the few behaviour e may woll be that this indeed the way tht things ‘often work. One would expect. for example that i ls usually safe to ‘onchide that someone walking dawn a Cardi street wearing 2 Cand icy fotba shit has a favourable atiude toward Cardiff ity Fool ‘lub, ora least that they donot hold an wnfvourableateude CCongraty among cognition afeet sd behaviour i indeed alo fore grounded ifatitudes are scen in term of inp and output inthe way Aesribed above. Much advertsing and marketing in fact, bases selon such assumptions. For example. marketing managers ae often keen 12 et us tory out fee samples orto ya product fora free tal period OF ‘your money back if not fly satisfied) on the rationale that. once ve have tied out the produc, we wil develop favourable attitudes to. Festinger’s(1957) theory of copntvediteomance proposes that we peer to ep our belies atutudes and behavioarin ne with eachother. ‘Tere are ocssions, however, When attudes and behaviours appete far removed fom such alignment. Hewstone, Mansead and Stroke (0987) post the example of going for 3 dents checkup. Cognitive, ‘most people would view this 2s 2 sensibie routine for health reaors. ‘Afoctively. though, ou feeling about making 3 particular visi may lack the fame level of poitivigy a8 this cognitive orientation. Ott lehavioural inclinations, too, may be out of step with our bell thit ‘twould bea sensble thing to do, and we may rather readily find some reason 1 cael our appointment. One oftencited study of how far cognition, affect and behaviour operate independently is one by Brecker (1984) in which he studied Fundamenas of language audes 25 peopl’ atiudes to snakes. Breer used and compared two research “approaches. In one ofthese, a snake as physically resent when people’ tudes were stdied, and in the other. the respondents were atked simply oimagine thats snake was present. In thefestof these conditions, Breckler found only moderate coreatons between behaviour, cognition and affect, wheress in the second, he found much higher corlatins. Te would seem from Brecle’ study thatthe degree of alignment found among cognition. ffct and behaviour en vary according to how the ties are designed and conducted and that there svalve In 25 Ing each ofthe thre separately rather than assuming alignment. ‘Ostrom (1969: 27) pointed to a heavy las in attudes research towards affect, and, indeed, Thorstone’s definition atthe sar ofthis ‘hanterprioritises thls. Occasionally though. as Cari. Giles. Ryan Snd Bradac (1998) point out, acudes do appear largely or ehtiely Siete. Hence. person may hear language that they ae unable ‘deni bu which they nevertheless judge tobe pleasant or uly. ad thismay even affect their responses during the encounter (an Bezoo}en 994) Nevertheless, research suggests tat therels generally clos ink berwen the cognition and affect (Ervin 200114, cis in the third component of this triadic model of attitudes ~ behavioue = where much ofthe controversy lis. eis perhaps telling that we tend frequently to talk in terms of the selatcnship between attitudes and behaviout as if taking it for granted that atiudes are primarily related to cognition and affect combined, with tendency 10 Work together independently of behaviour much ofthe tm. Yee the felation between attitudes and behaviour 3 hugely important ire Inattinades research. For many professional persuades, most notably in fields such as policy making. campaign and programme organising “and design, and advertising, this isthe relationship by which muchof the rationale for resatehingatitudes stands or falls Perlolf 1952: 79), Hence, we devote sme space to thi arpect of te nature of atten this chapter ‘The most famous study into ths question of behaviour was cen ducted by Ua Pere 1934). For two years inthe 1930s, a a time when there was considerable prejudice in the USA against peopl from te far Ear, La Pre travelled around the USA with 2 young Chines student and his wife On their tour, they stayed at sxtysix oes nd other types of accommodation. and visited 184 restaurants and aes. Only once were they refused service. Six months after the ‘return, La Pere sent questionnaires (0 the establishments they had been co, The questlonnalres inchided the question “Will you accept members ofthe Chines rave a guess in your establishment” Aer ome persistence by La Piere, completed replies were recived fiom flghg‘ore restaurants and forty seven of the accommodation loc tions. 2 percent of the esaurants and 91 per cent ofthe aecomae- ation Keations answered ‘no to the question, All But one of the ‘others std that ie would depend on eircumatances, Tis study's Arequenty cited as showing a weak link between the attitudes thet ‘people sy they have and ther behaviour (although La Fite himset ‘ew the conclusion that questionnaires were not goo! indicators cf social ateedes. ‘Though extensive, this was only one study. however, and mare ev dence forthe problematicty of any lnk beween attitudes and bea four coms from Hanson's (1980) review of forty-six attitude studies. “Twenty si ofthese were laboratory studies, in which there i a grest eal of centol over the conditions, and the other twenty were Feld ‘ties, where chee is inevitably tess contol The results weve gute ferent or these two types of studies. Hanson found eighteen ofthe |nborator studies showed a postive relationship between attitudes and behaviout, while sixteen of the ed studies fed to show any relation ship. This suggests that outside the laboratory, there are probably + reat deal more situational constrains on attitudes flloing through Jingo behaviour. Some atticudes may come into conflict with other ttitudes. for example Ewin 2001), ‘The woik of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) hasbeen of importance in the tetudesdeld with regard to establishing the structure and internal ‘elaionships of attnades. They have proposed the Theory of Reasonee ‘Action to accommodate some of the difcultes referred fo above Into ‘an explanatory model, Rather than focusing directly on behaviour, the Theory of Reasoned ‘Action considers behavioural istonion a an intermediate step. Looking at Figure 3.1. we se thatthe base determinants of behavioul inten ‘on are ofold. Firstly, there is the person's attitude to the behaviour ‘self nlvenced by theirbelits about the consequences of carying ot ‘he behaviour and their evaluation ofthe consequences, Secondly there are the person's normative beliefs about how ether people would judge Such behariou (with hostility oF with approval, for example. along ‘with the degree to which the person was to take their views into “an erarple ‘if abut esque: "My speaking RP on te phone to Mrs Smith, who Is inting me ogc tere for Jo, wl increase my chances of getng the” tn: want iso So thi would be gud thing to do. Fundamentals of language atiudes ” ore tene alae soo one poromance vine Figure 21 Theory ofReaoned Aton adapted from Aten {and Fhe 1980) Normatine ey sister who siting herein the re room with me ‘ri mockimy bebviout and cllimea slimy posh ra for aNng RP oat to comp wah thee don want to end up ke ‘my sitter, ned ts Job, and im nt ging tock araod ete auch longer anyway, especialy fet t= Considering behavioural intentions in this theory. rather than going sight to behsviour allows situational variables an explanatory role in attnades that do not lesd to ation. For example, somevhat Feniniscent of the story in chapter about the BAC and Clement Atlee, Mis Smith might eonetvably open the telephone conversation referred toabore by rashly saying that she is kee for this person to be ines ‘viewed beease thete are rather lo of candies whom she fees alk ‘oo posh and wil simply irtate potenal lens ‘Arumber of factors. n fact. can intervene between intended and ‘actual behaviour. To begin wih, Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) propose ‘hat atteudes and behaviou® are likely to be more strongly Unked ‘when they are both investigated at similar levels of specifiy IF we simply measure the stitue of some nonGeeman speakers 10 the German language and find that thigh poste this wl no help prec wheter they wl ean i We mig gear we nstesd ‘sss thei attest lening German Secondly, the behaviour self needs to be within our acu or pe ceived contol. Internal andexternal factors can pact om ts canal Esteral feos include such thing tine svalable, opp, faites andthe degre towbich we sre dependent on eter peopl Interna actors include such thing 8 whether in actuality oe out ree we hive acon th toe a ale ned topetform he scion. and wietherwe arse to plan adequately fora evel summary of tee ps ce Hewatone a 197 2459 The Inporanee of ont factor n moving from ate behold Aizen (1985). develop the Tory of Psnned Behavior inhi hse kinds ofolivona control fctos were added tothe framework ofthe Theory of esoned Acton 7 One phenomenon that eld be added to such Internal factors wether the behaviour flow ert A series knowledge sve {ore governing pereepusl and cognitive processes (on) an organised bundle of expectations abost an erent sequence’ (beaon 196613) Scripts can makeatitade los itelyto transla imo behaviour Hence Avelon wes fa Pare’ dy ‘well practised serps th action res = te police for whether to Eerie serie psa vey wel each ts hee ‘aval and the suet poke abet ay oe managers es Dut resin the sue ply i eer answers no. n the other Bo ie vous ova tee Pte oc So having pointed earlier tothe argument thatthe value ofthe study lofacttudes lies in thei abily to predict behaviour (Gass and Sete? 1998: PerlofT 1985 iis clear thatthe opposite viewpoint is also vl the variables that stand between behavioural intentions and behaviour itself and perhaps in paricuar in the field of language attitudes. ae ‘often very much o interest, links between peopl’ atitudes towards language varieties and thelr own behaviours are likely to difer Secor to the complexity of domains i which language is used Fndomenias of language atitudes » At another lve, we may have 3 very postive atutude to learning s rinority language, but be very aware that (ike forming some Kinds of friendships, for example) language learning involves 2 sustained long ‘erm commitment, compare to, sy, buying 3 new toaster. Perhape on maintaining that level of commitment into the future. Orfemay be tat sive fees (again, ver along period of tine) toa private language schod. At times too, our altitudes may be in competition: a candidate at an Interview fra job may strategically adjust thelr speach syle in a wey that diverges rom or conceals the dialect the in fact havea very strong loyalty tof they fee this enlsnces their chances of eating ater important atiudes, suchas getting thejob, thus helping them to ful ‘heir eareer ambitions, andor plessing significant others, rach 383 partner oF parent [STABILITY AND DURABILITY IM ATTITUDES ffs group and of ait that maker him [fr ect oie works {na commer and chro way instead of 9 transitory and apnea way Shel 19672), an essential part of human soialstion, bu als stresses the durable ‘qualities of atitdes as socially structured and socially strocturing Phenomena. Alongside thi, though. are some important considerations Inthe persuasion literature. Fink Kapiowitz and McGreery Hubbard (2002, for example, review research ito the fvetvation (osillaton) ‘ecsions, and they argue tht tis reasonable to expect oscillator ‘dynamics for cognition’ (p17, And Sears and Kesterman (194: 260) frgue tha atcedes can difer in thelr levels of commitment. Some attitudes ave more superficial and unstable. evento the point where they can even be labelled “nowattiruds' (Ostrom, Bond, Krosnik and Sedikdes 1994), Nonatitaes incude stances where people make up topic, or one that is too complex to engage with fully before feline requted (0 expres a view. Sears (i983) though. suggests that tho tudes acquired eal inthe lifespan tend to be moreenduring.Clves ‘that many of ouraceades to fanguage. ike language tse are acquired » arrives 10 tawcuace rly in the ifespan, this ew fom Seas suggests that at least some of our language atts ave kely to be more enduring than some other atedes In addition to the above srong questioning oflsims about tabiiy and durability in atitudes comes from Potter and Wetherell (1987). Arguing from a discourse analytic perspective, they demonstrat theft view by providing discourse tom New Zelandets about Moris ta the example. dividuals are expresing thee attudnal positions during ‘moment and show substantial variability and woatly in thelr at. tudes. This dynamic and constructive proces of socal Categorisation ‘and social evaluation, Poter and Wetherll sy, isnot captured by ‘tition sppreaches to stdying tare. Their views wel argued and demonstrated but the implication that ‘eseatch into social evaluation should confine itself othe qualitative analysis of individuals” talkin interacton nevertheless seetes overly restrictive Wf. arguments by Libicher and Daley-O°Cain. 2008-218 forthe pursuit and integration of dacourse and indlvet approaches). There Is much to be gained from taking an open view Of fesearch ‘methods and inverprettion and tallow approaches that sim at reach. ing geneatsations about communigyevel phenomena, Most of the work conducted intolanguage attitudes over the years hasbeen sicuted in group-ocsed empirical work In the fel of sociolinguistic and the socal pyehology of language, and so thisisinevitably refered in {his book. i chapter 10, ehough, oe lok af «study in the dscoutse lwadtion by Hyrhestedt and Kalas (1998), investigating stiudes to English in inand ‘Tore questions such a how stable or ephemeral attitudes are and ofconte-dependent and contestindependent atitudes, ae impom ‘ant Social eafuaions may indeed vary acoso within social situation, and, as mentioned above, some atdes may indeed aso be les stable But this doesnot mean thatthe variation i not normaly bounded some way otha there can be no sable subjective trends a highes evel A degree of systematic variton' Pte and Wetherel 1987-48) need not be seen entely contradictory tothe den of durability OTHER TERMS RELATED To ATTITUDES Ther are a number of ether terms that sem so closely connected (© attitudes sat they ae often used slmost interchangeably. Its use to gather sme ofthese together and ty to define them and, 3 ara is of engage ster a feasible, to aifeencate amongst them. Those pursued here re: habit values, belie, opinions, and two concepts touched on in chapter social stereotype and ideologies. HO Habits share som: ofthe qualities of tudes insofar as they are learned site fom tues har hy tno be Wewed pari 8 beat phenomena, even if they may link with behaviour. or Pelol 199.29 5 Frherdiference between attudes and habits is that people gene ‘mare than isthe ase with thei habits. is importants keep thi clin in proportion, trough. since one ofthe main difcultes im attudes research is estimating how much reflexlve awareness people actually have of their vaious attitudes (See the comparison ofatcudes and opinions, below) Awareness may vary with aiferentsttides and Ia

    You might also like