What did we find?

The graph above demonstrates a clear difference between in and out-group language attitudes. As expected, the in-group are more favoured towards their own variety whereas the out-group are not. As previously stated in the language attitudes section, this can be put down to the pride which we hold towards our in-group.

Additionally, the participants were asked to rank the speakers in terms of clarity, pleasantness and how educated they perceived them to sound. Due to the use of two videos of different speakers, the results were also cross examined against each other to distinguish whether the context of the speaker had any significant effect.

Overall, when combining the results of both videos, in terms of pleasant/unpleasantness the videos were ranked on the scale as unpleasant (scaled 1-2) by 45.9% of the non-Merseyside participants in comparison to just 5.5% of the Merseyside participants. The difference between these is over 8 times as big, again highlighting a significant different in attitudes.

Similarly, the ranking of educated/uneducated follows a similar pattern, with 5.5% of the participants ranking the variety as uneducated (again, 1-2) compared with 36.5% of the non-Merseyside participants.

From our research surrounding the topic, it could be suggested that the reason for this significant difference in attitudes is strongly centered around the Social Identity Theory. This highlights how we develop emotional significance to our group and become protective over it, providing a suitable explanation for why people from the Merseyside area have a much more positive attitude towards their variety.

 

    An interactive map displaying language attitudes to Scouse, click on the location to reveal the overall attitude. 

 

In the videos provided in the questionnaire, although both speaking with a Merseyside variety, two different types of speech were presented to the participants. Here it is evident that there is a difference in the specifics of the data, for example; overall 4.33 participants from the Merseyside region ranked the first video as positive whereas only 1 ranked the second as positive. However, the results generated the same general pattern, regardless of if the speech was scripted or unscripted.

As briefly mentioned, if we look at the general trend, it is clear that participants from outside of the Merseyside region are more inclined to rank the variety as negative in comparison to people from the Merseyside region. And as clearly shown above, the out-groups did not rank the variety as completely positive in any of the circumstances. As predicted, the in-groups attitudes are significantly more positive than the out-group.

 

Edited by Mia Thornton