Investigating Attitudes towards Standard Mandarin and Ningbo-accented Mandarin: A Verbal Guise Test Study

Attitude, an evaluative judgment of an object, is a central concept in social science. The study of language attitudes has become popular in sociolinguistics for several decades. Verbal Guise Test (VGT) is considered an effective method and is widely used in language experiments.

China, with its diverse dialects coexisting with Standard Mandarin (SM) and a prevalent diglossic phenomenon, presents a compelling setting for attitudinal language research. For instance, Ningbo, a city in Zhejiang province with nearly 10 million residents, exemplifies a dialectical area where the use of Ningbo dialect is widespread. The distinctive pronunciation of Ningbo dialect influences the pronunciation of Mandarin, leading to the emergence of Ningbo-accented Mandarin (NAM).

Given the presence of several universities in Ningbo, attracting students from across the country, these students are likely exposed to an environment where SM and NAM coexist. This study utilizes VGT to investigate whether university students hold different attitudes towards SM and NAM and explore potential factors influencing these attitudes.