Students' Reactions to Irish Regional Accents

Abstract

Starting with the knowledge that large numbers of Dublin teachers are not from Dublin themselves and speak, therefore, with a regional accent, the study used the matched-guise technique to investigate the reactions of Dublin secondary school students to five such regional accents. The subjects (N = 178), from different social strata, consistently rated the Donegal guise most favourably on traits reflecting competence. The Dublin speaker was perceived least favourably on these traits, and the Cork, Cavan and Galway guises were in the middle ranks. Evaluations were more varied on other dimensions, although the Dublin speaker was, with the Galway guise, rated most favourably in terms of social attractiveness. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to future investigations of regional stereotypes in general, and the study of teacher-pupil dynamics in particular.

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