Abstract

Abstract:

This article addresses the influence of the interpreter's regional accent on the perception of deaf signers by their hearing interlocutors in a Netherlandic Dutch context. Language attitudes regarding spoken languages have been well-researched, and the categories superiority, integrity, and dynamism that have been applied to attitude studies on spoken Dutch formed the basis of this study. This research explores whether or not those attitudes play a role in interpreted conversation, by using a modified version of the speaker evaluation paradigm for measuring spoken language attitudes. It reveals that hearing people without any sign language knowledge are influenced by the accent of the interpreter when forming their opinion of the deaf signer. Accents from the west, north, and south areas of the Netherlands were used. The results are largely, but not entirely, in line with effects found in spoken Dutch experiments: deaf people interpreted by someone with a western accent are judged to be more dynamic across the board, while in the west, deaf people with an interpreter from the south are judged to score lower on qualities like intelligence than those with northern or western interpreters. These findings may have implications for interpreter training and selection.

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