A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan has revealed that children as young as 5 years old make social judgements about others based on how they are spoken to, particularly when it comes to the use of “foreigner talk”. The findings suggest that the way children perceive and evaluate others is significantly shaped by the speech register, or style of speech, used in interactions, potentially laying the groundwork for social biases that persist into adulthood. The findings were published in the journal Cognitive Development.

Danielle Labotka and Susan A. Gelman’s study looked at how kids and adults respond to different speech registers when addressing people. Specifically, the researchers focused on foreigner talk, a simplified, slow, and often louder style of speech that native speakers may use when addressing non-native speakers. This type of speech is often seen as condescending, yet it is commonly employed under the guise of ensuring understanding.

The researchers recruited 170 children aged 5 to 10 years and 107 adults to participate in two separate studies. In the first study, participants were asked to evaluate the characteristics of individuals who were addressed using one of three speech registers: foreigner talk, teacher talk, and peer talk. Teacher talk is formal and polite, while peer talk is casual and familiar.

The results revealed that both children and adults evaluated individuals addressed with foreigner talk more negatively compared to those addressed with teacher talk or peer talk. Children rated the foreigner talk addressees as less likeable, less nice, and less intelligent, suggesting that they were forming negative social inferences based solely on the manner of speech directed at the individual.

Interestingly, the study found that as children grew older, their negative evaluations of foreigner talk addressees became more pronounced. By the age of seven, children consistently rated individuals addressed with Foreigner Talk lower than those addressed with the other registers. This trend indicates that children’s sensitivity to social cues in speech increases with age, and with it, the likelihood of forming biassed judgements.

In the second study, the researchers looked more closely at whether additional social cues, such as the perceived origin of the addressee or the speech register, influenced children’s evaluations. Children were presented with scenarios where a peer (a local child) and a foreign child were each addressed with either Foreigner Talk or Peer Talk. The results showed that older children rated local peers who received foreigner talk more negatively than foreign peers receiving the same speech register. This suggests that children may perceive the use of foreigner talk towards a local peer as inappropriate, further amplifying their negative evaluation of the addressee.

Adults in the study displayed similar patterns, consistently giving lower ratings to individuals addressed with foreigner talk across all measures of likeability, niceness, intelligence, and potential friendship. However, unlike the children, adults were more nuanced in their evaluations, particularly when it came to assessing the competence of the addressees.

The implications of these findings are significant. They suggest that children are not only sensitive to how others speak but also to how others are spoken to, which can influence their social evaluations from a very young age. This sensitivity may contribute to the development of social biases and stereotypes, particularly towards individuals who are perceived as outsiders or different.

What’s the image above? It’s our way of showing appreciation to our Filipino readers by offering an exclusive competition just for them.