Sociodemographic and Attitudinal Effects on Dialect Speakers’ Articulation of the Standard Language: Evidence from German-Speaking Switzerland

Abstract

In Switzerland, the way of speaking Standard German is subject to heated debates on the extent to which speakers phonetically mark their dialectal origin. However, there is little evidence of factors influencing the articulation of the standard language. This paper focuses on two variables (/ç/ and /k/) which may indicate the degree of dialect- vs. norm-oriented articulation of the standard. We analyzed data from 1,000 speakers from 125 localities using auditory coding and acoustic measures. Besides sociodemographic factors, our models suggested influences of language attitudes and political leaning: less favorable attitudes to the standard language and a right-leaning orientation were associated with higher rates of dialectal articulation of the standard. These findings contribute to our understanding of the links between attitudinal factors and speech, suggesting that phonetic features may be indexical of local dialect identities or political positioning.