Chapter 10. L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation

Abstract

There is growing interest in using experimental perception tasks to study the sociolinguistic competence of second language learners. Previous studies on L2 attitudes and perception have largely focused on single linguistic variants presented in guises with limited social context. This chapter reports on a study that explores the L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation in Spanish. L2 learner participants (n = 108) completed a matched-guise task in which they evaluated digitally manipulated audio guises containing the variable reduction of [paɾa] to [pa] and the variable weakening of coda /s/. The guises were rated according to social attractiveness and social superiority. Linear mixed-effects modeling selected speaker voice, linguistic variables, and experience with linguistic courses as significant factors in predicting the attitudinal responses.