Language and nationality attitudes as distinct factors that influence speaker evaluations: Explicit versus implicit attitudes in Luxembourg

Many language attitude models have proposed that attitudes towards a speaker's linguistic aspects have an influence on evaluations of that speaker. However, only a little attention has been paid to how a speaker's nationality might affect speaker evaluations. We examined whether language and nationality attitudes, on both explicit and implicit levels, are distinct concepts, and whether these attitude types affect speaker evaluations. Findings confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of language and nationality attitudes, thus confirming their conceptual distinctness. Moreover, explicit language attitudes affected explicit speaker evaluations, a finding that is discussed in the light of its implications for future research. •Evidence for the conceptual distinctness of language and nationality attitudes.•Salience of language and national group membership in implicit attitudes.•The usefulness of combining explicit and implicit research methods is highlighted.•Explicit language preference affects evaluations of speakers who use this language.