Evaluating Differences in Language Perceptions Between Latin American Spanish and Other Romance Languages

In 2021, 23% of Latino Spanish speakers reported facing criticism for speaking Spanish in public spaces. While many studies center around Spanish language perceptions, there is a lack of research comparing Latin-American Spanish dialects to other Romance languages. Furthermore, sociolinguistic research is generally conducted with adult participants. Considering these gaps in knowledge, the goal of this study was to evaluate perceptions of Latin American Spanish, French, and Italian speakers through phonaesthetic qualities and implicit social perceptions. Participants (N = 101; adolescents age 14-18), a majority of which from a linguistically and culturally diverse town, listened to recordings of the three languages and rated them on a 7-point Likert scale based on speakers’ characteristics and the sounds of their voices. The main findings were that Spanish was perceived as most familiar, trustworthy, and friendly, which is consistent with past sociolinguistic research. Participants perceived the French speaker as most competent, and the Spanish speaker as least competent, based on findings from the questions regarding intelligence, status, and income. Additionally, while the French speaker was perceived as most likely to be an executive at a firm or an attorney, the Spanish speaker was perceived as most likely to be a retail store salesperson or work behind the counter at a local store. These results were particularly interesting given the diversity and prevalence of Latin-American Spanish dialects in the participants’ town. These findings indicate that implicit biases exist in adolescents- even those living in a diverse community – against Latino Spanish speakers and suggest a need to educate and raise awareness around these implicit biases.