Example Of Dialect Essay
A)Dialects are a natural , invevitable part of cultural and regional differences in American society. Discuss one or two examples of dialects seen in the video.(Please no more than 2 examples.)
Example 1
BOSTON WOMAN:
I was engaged for awhile to a “Yalie” who sounded like a Yalie to me, although he had a trace of a Southern accent. I thought sort a Bill Faulkner, Truman
Capote accent, you know, when you’re twenty you don’t, you know, make these distinctions and I went home to meet his family, ah, at Christmas. And as we drove further South from New Haven, his accent got heavier and heavier. It became filled with all these hillbilly kind of regionalisms, you know, this real kind of you all stuff and as well a lot of the …show more content…
hand gestures, this was, this man was becoming a different person as we went— mostly the language. By the time we got to Sparta, um, I had had it. I just knew that someone with those little accents was not gonna crawl around inside of me. I was not gonna have little
Southern babies who talked like that and I got on a plane home.
No question.
Example 2
MISSISSIPPI WOMAN:
I don’t think they perhaps have the same values of hospitality that we do in the
South. And so I associate all of that with the sound of their voice. And it’s um, grating on your ears, maybe our sound is also, but it’s usually their nasal, um, and a lot of times the things they say are not kind.
B) There are variety of attitudes toward dialects that are illustrated in “ American Tongues”. Some dialects are discriminated against and/or seen as inferior. Discuss one example of dialect seen as inferior and one of dialect seen as superior.
Inferior : Black Dialect.
This suggested they believed that Black dialect was an inferior dialect and a poor attempt to speak Standard English, they were labeled as racist, holding negative views about African-Americans. Consequently, until the name and the theories were changed, Black English was a scarcely studied dialect. The term black English implies that all black people speak this dialect. This fails to recognize the fact that many Caucasians speak this dialect also. In fact, the designated speakers of Black English are those who live in urban areas, and the majority of these inhabitants happen to be African-American. However, not all blacks live in the inner-city, and not all of those who live in the inner-city are
black.
Superior:Upper-crust Dialect
Upper-crust dialects stand out just as much as the blue collar ones.The scene above clearly shows that the African-American woman believes it is wise to learn both a vernacular dialect and a standard form of English. By using Standard English towards her professional life, this shows that she knows that people will judge you by the way you speak. So she uses a standard form of English out in public or at her work, because people will think she is more "educated" or more "professional".
ANT 104 :
Language , Culture and Society
Extra credit assignment
Name : Kit Yin ,LEE
Date due : April 21st 2010
Example 1
BOSTON WOMAN:
I was engaged for awhile to a “Yalie” who sounded like a Yalie to me, although he had a trace of a Southern accent. I thought sort a Bill Faulkner, Truman
Capote accent, you know, when you’re twenty you don’t, you know, make these distinctions and I went home to meet his family, ah, at Christmas. And as we drove further South from New Haven, his accent got heavier and heavier. It became filled with all these hillbilly kind of regionalisms, you know, this real kind of you all stuff and as well a lot of the …show more content…
hand gestures, this was, this man was becoming a different person as we went— mostly the language. By the time we got to Sparta, um, I had had it. I just knew that someone with those little accents was not gonna crawl around inside of me. I was not gonna have little
Southern babies who talked like that and I got on a plane home.
No question.
Example 2
MISSISSIPPI WOMAN:
I don’t think they perhaps have the same values of hospitality that we do in the
South. And so I associate all of that with the sound of their voice. And it’s um, grating on your ears, maybe our sound is also, but it’s usually their nasal, um, and a lot of times the things they say are not kind.
B) There are variety of attitudes toward dialects that are illustrated in “ American Tongues”. Some dialects are discriminated against and/or seen as inferior. Discuss one example of dialect seen as inferior and one of dialect seen as superior.
Inferior : Black Dialect.
This suggested they believed that Black dialect was an inferior dialect and a poor attempt to speak Standard English, they were labeled as racist, holding negative views about African-Americans. Consequently, until the name and the theories were changed, Black English was a scarcely studied dialect. The term black English implies that all black people speak this dialect. This fails to recognize the fact that many Caucasians speak this dialect also. In fact, the designated speakers of Black English are those who live in urban areas, and the majority of these inhabitants happen to be African-American. However, not all blacks live in the inner-city, and not all of those who live in the inner-city are
black.
Superior:Upper-crust Dialect
Upper-crust dialects stand out just as much as the blue collar ones.The scene above clearly shows that the African-American woman believes it is wise to learn both a vernacular dialect and a standard form of English. By using Standard English towards her professional life, this shows that she knows that people will judge you by the way you speak. So she uses a standard form of English out in public or at her work, because people will think she is more "educated" or more "professional".
ANT 104 :
Language , Culture and Society
Extra credit assignment
Name : Kit Yin ,LEE
Date due : April 21st 2010