Language Attitudes and the Marketplace

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics - English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, University of Virginia, course: English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, language: English, abstract: Despite the fact that advertising and marketing are multi-billion dollar per year language-driven industries, little research has been conducted to measure the effect of linguistic factors on the product desirability. The following study is a marketing survey in which survey takers were randomly asked to watch one of three advertisements for a fictitious sports drink. The commercials differed only in voice-over. One voice-over artist spoke Standard English, another African American Vernacular English, and another Southern English. Participants were then asked to make judgment about the artists in relation to the advertisement. The results illuminate social characteristics (such as perceived wealth, poise, and intelligence) that people from different demographics associate with the aforementioned varieties of American English.