Abstract:
This pilot study investigates the effect of exposure on native-like status evaluation of regional
British accents by Dutch L2 speakers of English. Previous research has shown that both
native and non-native listeners prejudge a person’s status and personal characteristics based
on their accent (cf. Giles, Wilson & Conway, 1981; Alford & Strother, 1990; Coupland &
Bishop, 2007; McKenzie, 2008b). An empirical experiment was conducted modelled after
research by Giles, Wilson and Conway (1981) and accent evaluation data was collected from 30 Dutch-native L2 speakers of English. The results show that the participants in this study do not evaluate the social status of the English speaker in the same way that natives do and no significant linear effect of exposure was found. The paper concludes with a few suggestions
for further research.
