The Role of Implicit Nationality Preference in Speaker Evaluations in the Multilingual Context of Montreal

Abstract

Multilingual contexts in cross-border regions are characterized by a high number of inhabitants making use of various languages depending on the context. A language that a person speaks thus cannot be used as indicator of national group membership, which highlights the need for a distinction. The present study aimed to transfer an adapted model positing language and nationality attitudes as distinct factors of speaker evaluations, both on an explicit and implicit level, to the context of Montreal. Explicit attitudes were assumed to primarily affect explicit speaker evaluations, whereas implicit attitudes were expected to be the primary predictor of implicit speaker evaluations. Results primarily confirmed the distinctness of language and nationality concepts on an implicit attitude level. Moreover, the crucial role of nationality preference on an implicit level was highlighted: Quebecers’ implicit nationality attitudes affected implicit preferences for the Quebec nation suggesting affirmation of model transferability.