Language attitudes in an Anglo-Hispanic context: the role of the linguistic landscape

Using the verbal-guise technique, 190 Anglo and Hispanic adolescents listened to and evaluated a series of Anglo- and Hispanic-accented speakers reading an ethnically neutral radio announcement across a broad range of seven judgmental dimensions. Anglo-accented speakers were evaluated more favorably across all dimensions, although the effect was attenuated for Hispanic raters. The reported linguistic landscape of the raters was also investigated to determine its role in predicting language attitudes. While this had no effect on Anglo raters, the linguistic landscape significantly affected Hispanic ratings; the more Spanish the perceived local climate (e.g., in terms of road signs, media available), the less favorably Anglo-accented speakers were rated, whereas the more English their perceived landscape, the more favorably Anglo speakers were rated.