How agreeable different varieties of American English are for non-native speakers of English : the effect of three different accents on Argentine hearers

Abstract

The reason why people in general may regard certain variations of a language in different ways, is a question that has been tackled several times by different scholars. People interpret the language they are exposed to taking into account factors like the intrinsic signs in the speech, the context in which the speech is being produced, the stereotypes and preconceptions they may have towards the speakers. Some accents may sound more attractive than others, or the language people produce may make them sound intellectual or pretentious. This phenomenon can be explained through different approaches and theories of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics introduced later on.