Is Standard Language No More than a Neutral Accent? Evidence from a Contextualized Speaker Evaluation Experiment on Belgian Dutch

What does it take for a variety to be evaluated as “standard”? Focusing on Flanders, a community with a strict standard language ideology, we examined whether a regionally neutral accent suffices, or whether nonstandard lexis and grammar must also be avoided. In a speaker evaluation experiment, 614 respondents rated four manipulated versions of an official government video, varying in accent (neutral vs. regional) and the presence or absence of tussentaal , a stigmatized nonstandard variety. While unaccented standard Dutch remained the most prestigious variety, a mixed guise combining a neutral accent with tussentaal was not downgraded and was perceived as dynamically prestigious. These findings suggest that a polished accent is a key criterion for standardness, which can offset the negative evaluation of other nonstandard features.*