Linguistic Divergence in Dutch-English Bilingual Communication: The Influence of Non-Native Speech Features on Language Switching.
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2025-06-05
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en
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This research investigates how certain linguistic features displayed by non-native speakers of Dutch affect native Dutch listeners’ perception and likelihood of accommodation in academic contexts. The study investigates divergence (switching from Dutch to English) and whether it is perceived as efficient and polite. Four linguistic features were analyzed: strong foreign accent, grammar mistakes, code-switching, and slow speech rate. Additionally, the control variable of slight foreign accent was included. The study employed a between-subjects design, in which 68 native Dutch speakers listened to a short recording of a student asking a question to a professor in Dutch, with one of the manipulated features. The results showed that only efficiency was affected by the conditions: it was rated higher with code-switching than strong foreign accent and slow speech rate. The findings highlight the importance of efficiency as a driver of divergence in bilingual interaction, presenting code-switching as a signal of communicative difficulty.
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