‘She Has an Accent’ - When Pronunciation Overrides Appearance in Determining Whether Someone Is a Native English Speaker

Abstract

Studies on nativeness affirm that being judged/perceived as a native/non-native English speaker is determined by social factors such as nationality, variety spoken and ethnicity. This study investigated how listeners from seven different countries judged speakers who were audio and video recorded as native or non-native English speakers by comparing whether having access to the videos made listeners change their ratings. Nine speakers from different linguistic backgrounds were audio and video recorded. Thirty-two listeners listened and watched the recordings and judged speakers as native/non-native English speakers. Listeners’ judgements were compared and analyzed as well as their comments for each speaker. The results show that though a few listeners considered appearance when rating the speakers, only a minority of them, in a minority of cases, changed their judgements when they saw the videos, and of those, few referred explicitly to appearance or geographical origin as information they used in making their judgement. Instead pronunciation emerged as the most commonly cited and consistent factor influencing listeners’ perceptions of nativeness.