Influence of generational cohort and experience with non-native speakers on evaluation of speakers with foreign-accented speech

Abstract

This study reports the effect of participants' generational differences and subsequent amount of contact with foreigners on the perception of foreign-accented speech in the context of internationalization of Japan. The participants were people in their 50s or 60s who were in variety of occupations. They spent their youth from the 1970s to the 1980s in Japan, when Japanese society went through a rapid change in terms of internationalization. Since then, the number of foreign residents has tripled and non-native speakers are commonly encountered on the street and in media. The participants' perception of speech was compared with that of the younger generation to determine whether the historical period in which people grew up affects their perception. It was found that regardless of the age of native listeners, foreign-accented speech was evaluated less positively than native speech. However, experience of contact with foreigners made a difference in some aspects of the judgement by native listeners.