Listener judgments of status cues in speech: A replication and extension

This study investigates status cues in voice and language. Three groups of five men, representing objectively measured high, middle, and low status positions, had speech samples tape‐recorded under controlled conditions. Each speaker participated in two exercises: (a) a free response constituting free choice of grammatical structure and vocabulary usage, and (b) an alphabet recitation constituting content‐free speech. Each of 336 listeners responded to 30 randomly ordered exercises. Half evaluated speaker status, and half evaluated speaker credibility. While Harms’ research findings were confirmed in this study, results indicated further that cues are present in the voice which enable untrained listeners to correctly identify social status, and that high status speakers are perceived as more credible than speakers of other status positions.