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What if it speaks like it was from the village? Effects of a Robot speaking in Regional Language Variations on Users’ Evaluations | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

What if it speaks like it was from the village? Effects of a Robot speaking in Regional Language Variations on Users’ Evaluations


Abstract:

The present contribution investigates the effects of spoken language varieties, in particular non-standard / regional language compared to standard language (in our study...Show More

Abstract:

The present contribution investigates the effects of spoken language varieties, in particular non-standard / regional language compared to standard language (in our study: High German), in social robotics. Based on (media) psychological and sociolinguistic research, we assumed that a robot speaking in regional language (i.e., dialect and regional accent) would be considered less competent compared to the same robot speaking in standard language (H1). Contrarily, we assumed that regional language might enhance perceived social skills and likability of a robot, at least so when taking into account whether and how much the human observers making the evaluations talk in regional language themselves. More precisely, it was assumed that the more the study participants spoke in regional language, the better their ratings of the dialect-speaking robot on social skills and likeability would be (H2). We also investigated whether the robot’s gender (male vs. female voice) would have an effect on the ratings (RQ). H1 received full, H2 limited empirical support by the data, while the robot’s gender (RQ) turned out to be a mostly negligible factor. Based on our results, practical implications for robots speaking in regional language varieties are suggested.
Date of Conference: 31 August 2020 - 04 September 2020
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 14 October 2020
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Conference Location: Naples, Italy

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