What is it about?

The present study employed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report attitude scale to measure the relationship between 90 English nationals’ implicit and explicit ratings of Northern English and Southern English speech in England. Multivariate analysis demonstrated significant IED, providing evidence of language attitude change in progress, led by younger females, with explicit attitudes changing more rapidly towards a greater tolerance of the English spoken in the north of England. The paper discusses the potential contribution of investigating implicit and explicit language attitudes to help account for the persistence of deeply embedded linguistic prejudice, as well as to measure language attitude change in progress.

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Why is it important?

Public attitudes towards linguistic diversity, both within and outwith England, clearly index stereotypes regarding specific speakers and their social group membership. Although overt prejudice has become less socially acceptable in England and many other countries over recent years, including overt discrimination against speakers of minority languages or language varieties deemed as non-standard, the findings of the present study indicate the value of investigating implicit as well as explicit attitudes towards linguistic variation, and the uncovering of implicit–explicit attitudinal discrepancies). The results of the present study help explain why subtler, but nonetheless deeply embedded, biases against particular communities of speakers persist. The investigation of implicit as well as explicit language attitudes can also help researchers investigate language attitude change.

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This page is a summary of: Implicit–explicit attitudinal discrepancy and the investigation of language attitude change in progress, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, March 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2018.1445744.
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