REPRINT - September 2006
‘The strength of Garrett, Coupland and Williams’ book is that it transcends the limitations of the method and the data through the shrewdness of their comments and their willingness to explore so many facets of their results. It will be very useful to anyone interested in investing language attitudes, and I recommend it strongly.’
Journal of Sociolinguistics
‘ This is an interesting book reporting on important, wide-ranging research, which illuminates the situation in a country of considerable sociolinguistic relevance, Wales, and raises thought-provoking issues in relation to methodology . . . a worthwhile, enlightening and enjoyable read.’ Language Awareness
‘This is a well-documented and critical work, written by practitioners in the long-established research area of language attitudes, and it will be of great interest to a wide multidisciplinary range of readers in the fields of sociolinguistics, the social psychology of language, the sociology of language and education.’ Language in Society
‘This is a well structured, carefully presented and significant book that is a fine addition to the long tradition of language attitude research. ‘The book illustrates high-quality research preceded by a most comprehensive, balanced and thoughtful introduction to the study of language attitudes.’ International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
Investigating Language Attitudes is a systematic and critical appraisal of the variety of ways in which people’s attitudes to language have been researched internationally over recent decades. The authors explain this complex field through clear reviews and commentary on previous work, while also offering a demonstration of language attitude research in one specific and important context, the English language in Wales. In addition to discussing different ways of expressing attitudes, from teenagers’ and teachers’ attitudes to regional and subcultural variation in attitudes, the book also considers issues such as degrees of authentic Welshness, the impact of rapid social change in Wales.
‘This is valuable reading for those interested in the area of language attitudes and message effects – and is the first book-length treatment of the former for many years . . . . readers will garner insights into Welsh life and the social meanings of a surprising array of Welsh accents – topics under-appreciated outside this principality but, herein, giving life and vitality.’ (Southern Journal of Communication)
The methodological and empirical issues considered in Investigating Language Attitudes will be of particular interest to all lecturers, researchers, and students in the fields of sociolinguistics, the social psychology of language, the sociology of language, and education. For those with a particular interest in Wales, the findings from the series of empirical studies present a barometer of life opportunities, social inequalities, and national coherence in a changing contemporary environment.
‘This is valuable reading for those interested in the area of language attitudes and message effects - and is the first book-length treatment of the former for many years. Its ultimate focus is on the authors’ own research on adolescents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards varieties of Welsh-English and is premised on the fact that most previous studies have embraced one or another method only; theirs is, laudably, multi-method.’ Southern Journal of Communication See full review from Southern Journal of Communication
Peter Garrett, Nikolas Coupland and Angie Williams are all at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University. Peter Garrett is Senior Lecturer, and his main interests are in attitudes, intergroup theory, and persuasive communication. Nikolas Coupland is Professor, with main interests in sociolinguistic variation, style and discourse. Angie Williams is Senior Lecturer. Her main interests are in research methods, intergenerational and relational communication. All three have published widely in the area of language and communication.
‘This is valuable reading for those interested in the area of language attitudes and message effects - and is the first book-length treatment of the former for many years. Its ultimate focus is on the authors’ own research on adolescents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards varieties of Welsh-English and is premised on the fact that most previous studies have embraced one or another method only; theirs is, laudably, multi-method.
The first three chapters review the literature emphasizing methodology in general, and Welsh studies in particular. The matched-guise technique, as a tool, comes under particular scrutiny - and perhaps a little harshly so given its valued features (of experimental control and use of authentic code-switchers) have been defended many times over the years (e.g., Giles & Bourhis, 1973). Throughout the book, past studies of Welsh accents are caricatured (and overplayed) as ambiguous and inconsistent – a seemingly unnecessary launching pad for the authors’ own innovative work. That aside, the critique is provocative and engaging for the most seasoned of scholars in the area as well as the novice. Lamentedly though, no (initial) chapter was devoted to the history, culture, and language of Wales, perhaps a lost opportunity as the naïve reader has to grasp at allusions to them as the book unfolds.
After a cogent chapter outlining the rationale and methods for this eclectic research program, we are provided with their most robust findings (Chapter 5). Volunteer teachers (albeit not adolescents as well) from all over Wales were provided with an open map of the country. On these, they were invited to draw geographical zones they felt had distinct Welsh dialects of English. Eight were interpreted as emerging (albeit without coder reliability data). Next, these 80 teachers were provided with six conceptually-labeled varieties - together with the standard British one (Received Pronunciation: RP) - to rate on seven Likert-type scales. Given the value placed on invoking respondents’ own dimensions of social comparison earlier in their discussion,, the [later reasoned] choice to concoct their own stimuli in this second phase – rather than awaiting data from the first - was surprising. Nonetheless, a clear hierarchy emerged with the Carmarthen accent (of the south-west) being rated the most prestigious, with the capital city of Cardiff’s accent being the least. Other rankings emerged depending on the evaluative item surveyed, a compelling one being “truly Welsh-sounding”.
Chapter 6 provides findings from a so-called “narrative performance” study. Audiotapes were collected of adolescents purportedly communicating to their age-peers about a newsworthy event. Two representatives each from six different accent regions of Wales (together with RP-users) were carefully selected and presented for evaluation to 80 teachers and 169 adolescents. Even though only half the schools originally selected provided volunteer respondents - and with considerable attrition thereafter - these pan-Welsh populations and target voice samples are a major and original accomplishment of this work. This time, scales were gratifyingly determined from pre-testing. The methodological elegance of the matched-guise technique was deliberately avoided and credence afforded speakers’ own choice of narratives (which were rated, in general and perhaps unexpectedly, unattractively). Without inferential statistics, judgments of the fourteen voices were cross-compared. Now in a previous study (Giles & Johnson, 1996) not cited, the choice of passage spoken by Welsh-accented speakers radically affected evaluations, with content completely overriding speech style in one condition. Not surprisingly then, idiosyncratic speech characteristics (see also, Luhman, 1990) and narrative style influenced the findings herein, increasing variability. While some “clean” trends were interpreted (relating to authentic Welsh-soundingness and the socially-mixed connotations of RP), little was really added to that found earlier. Nonetheless, discussion is comprehensively rich - a feat accomplished elsewhere with all findings. Many methodological details were, however, lost. For example, who recorded the narratives under what social circumstances? (Note that two of the authors are English - and one has a south-west Welsh brogue [see accent hierarchy above]).
Although the outcomes are, arguably, empirically modest, techniques applied in research domains elsewhere were creatively incorporated and reported in Chapters 7 and 8. For instance, multidimensional scaling procedures were computed from the evaluative data and interpreted in interesting ways. Spontaneously-evoked keywords (often taboo and sexual) were associated with the performances rated, and a small number of group-focused discussions were undertaken using the stimulus materials. In addition, accent recognition data allied to speakers rated were gathered. Accuracy rates were very low, with respondents inaccurate in labeling even their own locales’ varieties over 50% of the time. This, obviously, engenders concern and interpretive pause, yet a brave and compelling job of teasing apart the complex social cognitive processes involved in accent recognition ensues in Chapter 9.
The epilogue chapter is a well-structured analysis of themes arising, including the dynamics of adolescent identity. The more theoretically-inclined would desire - at least at this juncture - discussion about how this work aligns with, and could elaborate, extant language attitude models (see Cargile & Bradac, 2001); their notion of “claiming”of accents (pp. 207-09), for instance, has much potential here. Yet the ambitious remit of empowering a range of different methodologies (including perceptual dialectology) is an interesting challenge to message effects researchers. Finally, readers will garner insights into Welsh life and the social meanings of a surprising array of Welsh accents - topics under-appreciated outside this Principality but, herein, given life and vitality.’ Southern Journal of Communication