The Attitudes of Australian Students towards English Accents : Focusing on Received Pronunciation
Kaijomaa, Inka (2025)
2025
Kielten kandidaattiohjelma - Bachelor's Programme in Languages
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-05-14
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202505175706
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202505175706
Tiivistelmä
This study examines the attitudes that Australian students have towards English accents, with the focus being on their attitudes towards Received Pronunciation. Received Pronunciation (RP), originating from Southern England and later an accent of the upper class, is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious accents of English. However, studies in the past have noted an increase in the positive responses towards American accents, which birthed the hypothesis that it could nowadays be seen even more positively than RP.
The data for this study was gathered via questionnaire, which was sent to students in Australia. After some background questions, the anonymous questionnaire asked the respondents to rate different speakers on a scale from 1 to 5 in how friendly, trustworthy and educated they sound. Additionally, as the final question, they were asked to rate how pleasant each accent sounds to them in general. Largely from in and around Sydney, the respondents were mainly 18-25 years old, nearly equally male or female, and all had English as at least one of their most comfortable languages.
The other accents included in this study and to which RP was compared, were General American (GenAm), Irish, and Filipino. The results of the study showed that the majority of Australian students preferred RP in all categories. While this was largely expected in educatedness, RP was also preferred in the category of attractiveness, for example, where regional accents have traditionally tended to do better. The American accent was also not rated as highly as RP in any category. While the full reasons for the results are unclear without further investigation, the colonial history of Australia and “the cultural cringe” might in part explain why RP is still viewed so positively in Australia.
In future studies, one possible topic could be analyzing the responses deeper with the context of the respondent’s backgrounds, since this was not possible within the scope of this study. Additionally, this study had no indigenous respondents, but in future studies they could provide an interesting point of comparison for these results, considering the history of Australia and the damage caused to indigenous populations and cultures over the centuries.
The data for this study was gathered via questionnaire, which was sent to students in Australia. After some background questions, the anonymous questionnaire asked the respondents to rate different speakers on a scale from 1 to 5 in how friendly, trustworthy and educated they sound. Additionally, as the final question, they were asked to rate how pleasant each accent sounds to them in general. Largely from in and around Sydney, the respondents were mainly 18-25 years old, nearly equally male or female, and all had English as at least one of their most comfortable languages.
The other accents included in this study and to which RP was compared, were General American (GenAm), Irish, and Filipino. The results of the study showed that the majority of Australian students preferred RP in all categories. While this was largely expected in educatedness, RP was also preferred in the category of attractiveness, for example, where regional accents have traditionally tended to do better. The American accent was also not rated as highly as RP in any category. While the full reasons for the results are unclear without further investigation, the colonial history of Australia and “the cultural cringe” might in part explain why RP is still viewed so positively in Australia.
In future studies, one possible topic could be analyzing the responses deeper with the context of the respondent’s backgrounds, since this was not possible within the scope of this study. Additionally, this study had no indigenous respondents, but in future studies they could provide an interesting point of comparison for these results, considering the history of Australia and the damage caused to indigenous populations and cultures over the centuries.
Kokoelmat
- Kandidaatintutkielmat [10220]