Implicit and Explicit Language Attitudes and Language Attitude Change

Knowledge of public attitudes towards language‐based diversity can help uncover wider societal prejudices. Nonetheless, sociolinguists are increasingly aware of the limitations of using traditional explicit self‐report measures to gauge attitudes towards linguistic variation. Accordingly, a growing number of studies have adapted more recently developed socio‐psychological techniques—most particularly the implicit association test (IAT)—to access more deeply embedded, and durable, implicit evaluations of linguistic stimuli. This article provides a critical review of the methodological approaches undertaken and findings of existing prior explicit and implicit language attitude research, and examines the nature of the relationship between the two levels of linguistic evaluation. The methodological and theoretical merits of employing both implicit and explicit attitudinal measures in future language attitude research is discussed, in particular regarding more fine‐grained assessment of language attitude change in progress and to better understand the relationship between any changes underway in linguistic attitudes and patterns of language use and language change within the speech community under investigation.