Chinese Language and Discourse 5:2 (2014), 211–230. DOI 10.1075/cld.5.2.04yan ISSN 1877‑7031 / E‑ISSN 1877‑8798 © John Benjamins Publishing Company Language attitudes toward Northeastern Mandarin and Putonghua (PTH) by young professionals Chunsheng Yang University of Connecticut is study examines the language attitudes of young professionals in three cities in China towards Northeastern Mandarin (NEM) and Putonghua (PTH) (i.e., the standard language in China). It confirms that NEM has lower status as compared to PTH. However, the young professionals in Northeast China rated the NEM speaker higher than the PTH speaker in most qualities, attesting to the empa‑ thy and solidarity of native speakers toward their own variety of language. e northeastern professionals also rated the NEM speaker lower in some personal qualities, implying that the northeastern professionals’ awareness of the stereo‑ types associated with NEM and the prestige associated with PTH. e findings show that language attitude is directly linked to socio‑economic status and that speakers of the low variety of a language may develop complicated language at‑ titudes when negotiating their language use and identity in social interaction. Keywords: Language attitude, Putonghua (PTH), Northeastern Mandarin (NEM), accent, solidarity, stereotypes 关键词：语言态度，普通话，东北方言，口音，平等关系，成见 1. Introduction 1.1 Language attitudes When listening to a non‑native language or a dialect different from the native one, one is likely to make assumptions of the speaker consciously or unconsciously with respect to his/her appearance, personal qualities and social status, especially in the absence of the speaker. e examination of attitudes toward a language/ dialect can reveal the listeners’ perception of the speakers of that language/dialect