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Does media exposure to an accent impact upon the estimation of the age of speakers?
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Abstract:
World English accents are beamed via the media into the homes of those living in English speaking countries. The situation is the same in non-English speaking countries with a subtitling rather than dubbing policy. The degree to which an individual is exposed to the range of world Englishes, thus, varies from country to country. Research into the ability of individuals to identify the English accent of a speaker has demonstrated variation, which is dependent upon the country in which one lives and most likely the degree of exposure to non-local world English accents. This paper explores whether exposure to world English accents impacts upon the forensically important question of an individuals ability to assign the perceived age of speakers based on vocal cues alone. 150 English speakers, 50 from New Zealand, 50 from Australia and 50 from the United States of America responded to a range of questions about two New Zealand, two Australian and two North American voices. Only one of the questions related subjective age estimation. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences due to country or residence and hence media exposure to non-local world Englishes. A second set of 150 listeners, 50 from Germany, 50 from Finland and 50 from Sweden undertook the same task. No significant difference was found due to subtitling as opposed to dubbing policy. This study found no impact of media exposure to accent upon the estimation of the age of speakers based on vocal cues alone.
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Keyword:
380205 Language in Culture and Society (Sociolinguistics); 420304 Screen and Media Culture; 751004 The media; 751099 Communication not elsewhere classified; E1
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URL: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:148872
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