Journal of Language and Social Psychology

This article examines young people's evaluations of young and elderly targets in a patronizing encounter. Intergenerational patronizing vignettes were presented to respondents who evaluated the target characters. The presence of patronizing talk by a young individual, the nature of the older adult's response, and the thoughts of each target were manipulated in the vignette. The thoughts were manipulated as caring or dominant (younger individual), and assertive or passive (older individual). The young individual was evaluated more negatively in the patronizing, rather than neutral, speech conditions. Less assertive responses to patronizing speech resulted in evaluations of increased warmth and incompetence for the elderly patronizee. Caring thoughts by the patronizer led to more positive evaluations of her or him, although such thoughts were unlikely to be attributed when not provided. Relationships between these findings and previous research are discussed, and applied and theoretical implications are considered.

This article investigates associations between the acquisition of an ancestral language and ethnic affinity. Narratives about Armenian and non-Armenian cultural activities, and attitudes toward language usage and culture were elicited from 44 boys and girls aged 8-15 years. Some of the children spokeArmenian in addition to English, but all were active in an Armenian American community. American-born bilingual children were found to use relatively more first person plural pronouns than singular pronouns in stories aboutArmenian cultural activities compared with English-only speaking children of Armenian descent and foreign-born bilingual children, suggesting thatAmerican-born bilingual children may have closer affinity with theArmenianAmerican community than either monolingual or foreign-born bilingual children. Differences between the groups in attitude toward bicultural background also were found. Monolinguals made relatively fewer positive evaluations of their bicultural experiences than either the American-born or foreign-born bilingual children.

A numerical minority position is commonly associated with error, deviance, and/or weakness. Therefore, being a minority member poses a threat and minority members are urged to explain and account for their position. The present study has concentrated on how two British newspapers that strongly identified with the minority position taken by Britain at the European Union Maastricht summit in 1991 account for this position. The newspapers were analyzed in terms of how systems of social categorization are being constructed and the argumentative strategies used in identity construction. Various forms of discourse analysis focus on specific discursive devices and grammatical repertoires, whereas the present analysis shows the constellation of representations in identity construction. It is shown that the explanations draw upon a constellation of constructions and definitions that all work together in providing a justificatory account.

This study had two aims: (a) to establish whether interpersonal impressions made from visual speech followed the same patterns as those made from auditory speech; and (b) to determine the effect of gender stereotypes on interpersonal impressions made from visual speech. Forty-eight speechreaders (24 male and 24 female) saw 24 talkers (12 male and 12 female) on videotape without sound. After speechreading, speechreaders rated each talker on 14 semantic differential items. Factor analysis of the items revealed three factors, labelled Solidarity, Status, and Performance. Significant talker gender differences were shown in Status and Performance ratings, reflecting gender stereotypes. Variation in semantic differential scores contributed to a small but significant proportion of the variation in speechreading scores. Gender differences in this relationship also mirrored gender stereotypes. The results are discussed with reference to literature concerning speech perception, language attitude, and impression formation with auditorily received language, and gender stereotypes.