Abstract

This study investigates how a variety of non-indigenous English accents are evaluated by New Zealanders against their own speech. In a series of subjective reaction tests conducted in Christchurch, eighty subjects rated fifteen recorded readings by both L1 English and ESL speakers in terms of three solidarity, three competence and three status traits, while attempting to identify each reader’s age, occupation, and first language and/or regional accent of English. The analysis indicates that a New Zealand accent is most consistently identified and rated best on nearly all the traits, in sharp contrast to previous studies concluding that New Zealanders found North American English the more prestigious and attractive accent. It also shows that some ESL accents are perceived as favourably as native accents of English, particularly with regard to status traits, contradicting past research suggesting that ESL accents generally were downgraded.

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