example
Does anyone ever ask you about the way you speak? Have you ever heard any comments about your way of speaking or accent?
How would you characterize the way you speak? How is it related to where you grew up or where you are from? How is it related to your gender (If you want the topic to be gender, ask your interviewees whether they consider themselves a man or a woman, first)? How is it related to your
race/ethnicity/nationality? Do you like the way you sound most of the time, or are there situations where you wish you spoke differently from the way you do?
Do you have an accent? If yes, how would you characterize your accent? Have you ever wished you had a different accent? What was the situation? Have you ever wished someone else you knew had a different accent or dialect? when?
Have you ever found yourself changing the way in which you speak (your lexicon, accent, etc.) depending on the speech patterns of the person or people you are with (e.g. age, ethnicity, people here vs. people you know back at home)? If yes, elaborate and explain why. ii) About speech of people around the interviewees
Does your best friend or significant other have an accent, or speak a dialect? Is
it ever a topic of conversation, playful or otherwise?
Have you ever felt embarrassed by the accent or dialect of a friend or family member? Can you describe the situation?
Do your parents (brother, sister, grandparents, relatives, best friend, partner, etc.) have accents or dialects? If so, how would you characterize the way they sound? Can you describe? Do you like it or dislike it? Have you ever felt attracted or embarrassed because of that? Why?
How would you describe the way that English (Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Zapoteco, etc.) is spoken/sounds in your home town/community? Do you like that variety of English (Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Zapoteco, etc.)?
ii) About speech in the media
Are there any politicians, public figures, or entertainers who you think speak in an especially appealing or unappealing way? What is it about their speech that you find attractive? Or what is it about their speech that you abhor? Is it related to their gender or their race, ethnicity or nationality?
In animated films, characters (including those of the animal persuasion) have accents, dialects and particular ways of speaking. Do you have any favorites? Any that you abhor? How do you think Disney and others have used accents and dialects in the creation of social stereotypes (gender, race, ethnicity…), positively and negatively?
iii) Other ideas about speech
What varieties of English do you associate with high prestige? low prestige? any gender differences?
What varieties of another language (Spanish, French, Arabic, Hindi, etc) do you associate with high prestige? Low prestige? Are these associated with gender?
Does someones ways of speaking affect your attraction to that person? For example, is a girl or a guys ways of speaking or accent a bonus or a turn off?Would certain ways or speaking make you consider befriending them or possibly dating them or not doing so? (You can substitute any number of languages or accents here).
If you hear someone speaking with a British (Californian, Cockney, Latinx, Asian, New York, Boston, Southern, etc, etc.) accent, what are your thoughts on their social status or job?
When you hear friends speaking on the phone in their mother tongue (that you dont understand) to their parents, what do you think?
Do you find “foreign accents” to be attractive qualities of speech? If so, which ones, and why? Which foreign accent(s) would you like to have, and why?
What is the accent that you think sounds most uneducated or intelligent? Why?
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