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This paper is concerned with the relationship between attitude and behaviour in language. Adolescent male and female subjects were recorded and index‐scores of their linguistic behaviour compared to their assessment of ingroup members in a verbal‐guise attitude experiment, and to their attitudes concerning language usage in a questionnaire. It was hypothesised that male subjects' language would be closer to the vernacular, and that they would also express more positive attitudes towards ingroup members than would female subjects. However, no significant correlation between attitude and behaviour was found in the quantitative analysis, but results from the attitude‐questionnaire support our hypothesis: male subjects have more vernacular features in their language and also express more genuinely positive attitudes towards the local vernaculars than do female subjects. Finally, methodological and theoretical implications of these results are discussed, emphasising the importance of using eclectic approaches in future research on attitude‐behaviour relations in language.
Hans J. Ladegaard (Mon,) studied this question.