The study aims at proving the observation that in English oral speech perception,
sociolinguistic evaluation prevails over personal one. The total of 10 speech samples
by 2 native English speakers with no special phonetic or acting training imitating
various English accents were evaluated by 26 native English speakers on a number
of scales related to sociolinguistic and personal factors. When listening to the same
persons speaking in different English language varieties the respondents ascribed to
them very different social qualities, such as social class, education and occupation.
The personality properties ascribed, such as character traits and age, are shown to
depend on the social factors, associated with the accent.