Anglo-Australians’ and Immigrants’ Attitudes toward Language and Accent: A Review of Experimental and Survey Research

Research on the language attitudes of members of dominant and minority speech communities has special importance in countries such as Australia, where governments are in the process of developing a national language policy. Research in Australia suggests that Anglo-Australians remain strongly monolingual and Anglophile in their attitudes; they support educational programs on other languages mainly for their children's own educational advantage. In addition, they show preference in most situations for standard or prestige varieties of English. Second generation members of immigrant groups are under strong pressure to assimilate and to abandon their community languages. Opportunities to learn and use community language are somewhat restricted. In addition, young, second generation Australians may in some cases have even more negative attitudes toward nonstandard accents in English then do Anglo-Australians although they may value their own ethnic language as a signal of solidarity with their ethnic community.