Indexicality
In the yard, not too far from the car
A favorite scene from Jaws. I feel like this is a really interesting example of indexicality. Brody and Ellen are clearly aware of (r)-0 in coda position, though they probably wouldn't call it that, and they seem to have some idea of what it indexes and joke about that with each other.
Rhotacization in Mandarin
Play videoThis video explains when to use rhotacization in Mandarin. (Turn on English subtitles)
Philadelphian Accent - Indexing and Ideologies (PhillyTawk: Da Accent inna Media)
Play video
Philadelphian and self-proclaimed “accent nerd” Sean Monahan makes Youtube videos about the accents in the Mid-Atlantic region. In this video he talks about representations of the Philadelphian accent in movies and TV (or lack thereof), then it cuts to a montage of Philadelphians speaking to hear the difference between actors and native speakers. This video is a great example of indexicality and language ideologies at play. Sean is very proud of the accent that indexes him as a Philadelphian but aware that the lack of accurate representations of the dialect makes it hard for outsiders to recognize it. In the beginning of the video he even mentions people on the west coast though he had a speech impediment – this reveals a language ideology they have about how English “should” sound.
Vocal Fry Tik Tok
This Tik Tok is a joke about vocal fry and the California accent.
Accent and identity (Awkwafina's disappearing blaccent)
Awkwafina (Nora Lum, an Asian-American rapper/actress) has been accused of making use of the AAVE to her benefit and dropping it when she's going more mainstream in recent years - I think this is a great example of how one can use accents to construct different social identities. This also reminds me of the Benor/Eckert article on ethnolect and indexicality.
Naked mole-rat colonies have their own dialects—selected by their monarch
Play videoRodents exhibiting use of dialect in verbal communication. Would be cool to index dialects in naked mole rats..
Sorry to Bother You Trailer
Play videoArtifact for the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You. In it, the main character, Cassius Green showcases distinct usage of both /aɪ/ monophthongization and diphthongization.
Why “No Problem” Can Seem Rude: Phatic Expressions
Play videoA discussion about Phatic Expressions and how language change over time creates differing ideas of the standard of politeness
Fred Armisen Is Really Good At Accents
This is super entertaining if you just want to see how nuanced accents can be and how talented Fred Armisen is when it comes to imitating them, but I also thought it was really interesting how he described his own accents while he was doing them. For example, when asked to do Hamburg, he explained that "Berlin is a little more like loud and confident" while Hamburg is "more educated" and therefore they are "more conservative," hence the difference in their accent. He may have said this for comical reasons, but definitely pointed to how language can index social meanings, and perhaps how social meanings can also contribute to how we consider the sound of accents.
Salsa Tequila - Anders Nilsen
Play videoThis song "Salsa Tequila" by the Norwegian musician, Anders Nilsen, is a pretty clera example of mock Spanish. Most of the lyrics are disconnected Spanish words or short phrases, the kind that the average non-Spanish speaking person in the U.S. might know, as well as some places and names of celebrities. There are even some words that aren't Spanish like "tex mex" and "calamari", as well as some instances of incorrect Spanish like "por favor bailando" and "las ketchup". The chorus is just a repetition of the string of words "salsa, tequila, corazon, [and] cerveza" ending with "muy bueno". The music of the song is like the electronic dance music you might hear at a club, and along with the fact that the song is called "salsa tequila" (a dance and a kind of liquor notorious for making people take their clothes off) contributes to the language indexing a kind of partier persona, and projects that stereotype onto speakers of the language as a whole.
Dictionary of American Regional English: Linguistic Profiling
Article about the use of what the author calls linguistic profiling, although it is not quite the same as John Baugh's use of the term, to narrow down suspects for a crime. I had some concerns about the ideas, partly because it seemed like it was over-generalizing or treating certain groups as the default (for instance, it stuck out to me that at one point it was automatically assumed that the writer of a note must have been male because there were no features specifically treated as female, like hedging, but there were also other instances of this), and partly because a lot of the ideas they're relying on go against what we've talked about with the issues in directly linking a linguistic feature to a specific group. I also have some concerns about the ethics of trying to do this at all, given the prevalence of linguistic discrimination, and how unequivocally positively the article talks about it. [Published on 12-31-1969]
Pittsburgh dad: giving directions
Play videoThis video comes from a channel dedicated to this character of "the Pittsburgh dad". This is what people usually think of when they think of a Pittsburgher in terms of accent and slang usage. Many Pittsburgh natives don't necessarily talk like this, though many do to varying degrees, so the accent indexes this persona more-so than it does the concept of localness. There are tons of other videos on the channel, but I think this one shows a lot of examples of the low back merger.
Forensic linguistics gives victims and the wrongfully convicted the voices they deserve
CW: explicit discussion of sexual assault
This article uses critical discourse analysis to look at how language is used in the courtroom, particularly in relation to the accused and the accuser. It highlights the persuasive power of language and how the phrasing of certain statements can have the power to sway a jury or judge's opinions. The author talks about a specific case of sexual assault and describes the language used by the victim to tell her story.
When You Sound Different on the Phone
Play videoThis is a skit about a mother and daughter who are Cuban-Americans and each have a different voice when talking on the phone. This is an example of a linguistic repertoire- the mother and daughter are pulling on different resources. It also shows the speaker shifting in speech towards the audience, and the mother and daughter each chose (subconsciously) to use a different accent when on the phone to index things different to what their natural accents would index.
Clothes as Codeswitching
Usage of clothing by immigrant women in the United States as a form of code-switching to help them identify / be identified with the culture they want to be [Published on 07-13-2017]
What Kind of Person Fakes Their Voice?
This article investigates the voice of Elizabeth Holmes, the ousted founder of Therannos. It turns out, she speaks in a deep baritone, that turns out to be fake. Former co-workers of Holmes told The Dropout, a new podcast about Theranos’s downfall, that Holmes occasionally “fell out of character” and exposed her real, higher voice — particularly after drinking. You can sometimes find YouTube videos in which Holmes can be heard using that real voice before catching herself and deepening it. The question here is, why would someone fake their own voice? Research shows that when men and women deliberately lower their voices, it's actually successful in sounding more dominant or in a position of power.
How “Rez Accents” Strengthen Native Identity
A cool article about identity and “reservation English” [Published on 03-06-2017]
What Makes a Dialect a Dialect: The Roots of Upper Peninsula English
Play videoHistory and development of English in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a regional dialect also known as Yooper.
Helga Feddersen & Didi Hallervorden - Du, die Wanne ist voll
Play videoDu, die Wanne ist voll is a very famous parody on the song "You're the one I want". It demonstrates code-switching between German and English.
What your speaking style, like, says about you | Vera Regan | TEDxDublin
Play videoThis is a nice Ted Talk that shares information about the use of the word "like" in Ireland and what conclusions can be drawn about the people who use it. Vera Regan opens with an example about the common use of "like" by teenage girls. The important points of her talk expand to a larger scale about sociolinguistic stigmas and the general population's tendency to stereotype based on language use.
Rethinking Grammar: How We Talk
We as people judge the way that others speak, we assume intelligence based on the way that people speak. African American Vernacular tends to be associated with not being very smart [Published on 10-21-2015]
How to speak Japanese properly
Play videoThis is a Canadian YouTuber who enjoy learning Japanese. Although this video only 2 minutes long, it shows proper language usage in Japan and see the cultural difference. This video can help people to understand the asian culture, especially how Asian show their etiquette in a formal way. Specifically, in the use of language, the video shows a very complicated sentence to express gratitude, but the expression in English is very simple, just simply say thank you.
Word Choice - Friends
Play videoIn this episode Joey thinks that the way he speaks or writes is what matters. He starts to think this way when someone told him he should change. He wants to change because of important matters, like writing a letter for an adoption agency. Joey changes his word choices to seem smarter and more distinguished. He deviates from his regular language or vocabulary and it doesn't exactly work out for. What I take from this is that people should embrace their language and personalities with it and not change just because you want to be viewed a different way in society.
Ideology from Friends
Play videoAn excerpt from a Friends episode where Phoebe attempts a "posh" British accent.
Chardjou dialect of Turkmen
Play videoIndexicality of a tribal affiliation through use of code switching from Chardjou dialect to Russian.
Larry the Cable Guy: My fake southern accent
Play videoLarry the Cable Guy explains where he picked up his southern accent and gives examples of code-switching.
Mock Spanish
This poster is an example of mock Spanish with the phrase Cinco de Drinko.
Ear Hustle Podcast
This podcast, "Ear Hustle" discusses the reality of life in prison, created in a prison by prisoner Earlonne Woods and a prison volunteer and artist named Nigel Poor. The first episode, "Cellies" describes the meaning of the word "Ear Hustle" which is synonymous with eavesdropping. Prison language and the language used outside of prison is highly various. This is just an example of various language used in prison and the connection to prison culture. [Published on 06-14-2017]
SNL- Black Jeopardy with Drake
Play videoDrake plays as a African-American from Canada in a Jeopardy show centered around African-American stereotypes. The awareness of the public about certain features they use allow them to construct these stereotypes and place Drake as a part of the out group.
Sev'ral Timez Songs
Play videoThis video parodies 90s-style boy bands, especially their appropriation of AAE. Of note is their declaration, "We're non-threatening!" (found in the first and second clips) which I think captures many white Americans' attitudes towards black culture: a little is cool, but too much is scary. See 0:31 for an example of their use AAE features in speech.
Sexiest Languages: Men Respond
Play videoUncomfortable video in which blindfolded men listen to women speaking different languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Greek, etc.) and are both to predict which language they will find the "sexiest," and then are asked again at the end to reflect on the languages they heard. This relates to section in the reading on linguistic profiling that discusses "linguistic adoration" (Baugh, John, Linguistic Profiling. 2003).
Papyrus Font
Play videoThis 2017 SNL skit explores the indexical associations of the Papyrus font, showing indexicality's role in a semiotic system larger than language features similar to the indexical associations of Comic Sans.
British Woman Wakes Up With Chinese Accent??
Play videoThis is a perspective on what 'Chinese' accents sound like and how social stigma/racism influence how we could perceive speech - and in a larger context, a way to sensationalize stigma of accents.
Oprah and Elie Wiesel
Play videoA video of Oprah speaking with a Holocaust survivor that I used in my analysis of her style shifts.
Professor suspected of being a terrorist because of a math equation
A woman thinks that an Ivy League professor is a terrorist due to her inability to understand what he's writing (among other things). Her standard language ideology influenced her to believe that because he didn't seem to be writing in English, this could only be an indication that he was foreign and, ultimately in her eyes, a terrorist. [Published on 05-07-2016]
The Meaning of "Za": Pizza or Lasagna?
Play videoThis video is an SNL sketch in which two courtroom attorneys argue over the meaning of a specific word used by the defendant. This argument revolves around the question: Does "Za" mean pizza or lasagna? Because the two attorneys have differing language ideologies and are a part of different speech communities, they interpret the word "Za" differently and therefore each believe the defendant belongs to their speech community and uses "Za" the way it means to them. This video also plays on linguistic indexicality, which is the way in which language references or points us to certain aspects of the world; in this case the pronunciation of "Za" pointed one attorney towards lasagna and the other towards pizza.
The trouble with Trump's word choices
This is an opinion article on the interruption of President Trump's word choices. During the Presidential race, Trump used trouble words when referring to a community, based on their race or language. This article points out the various examples of Trump using trouble wording then explains how offensive he was being. [Published on 10-20-2016]
Key & Peele: School Bully
Play videoComedians Key and Peele act out a skit vocalizing the true thoughts and meanings behind the stereotypical school bully threats and phrases. While humorous, the skit displays how one’s words and language can be used to hurt, secretly signal one’s own emotions, and even the stereotyping of bullies and the struggles that lead to their outward aggression.
Language and Identity
Play videoThis talk delivers that language help people establish a linguistic identity, and a writing system is important for people to become literate. The language reflects who you are. The speaker treats her belonging to the Canada language community not the USA region. The speech communities express the social identities and relations.
Winter Is Coming
The phrase "Winter Is Coming" is used by the northern folk in the popular novel and TV series Game of Thrones. This phrase contains serious elements of the linguistic concepts of indexicality and multifunctionality. The saying can be interpreted both literally and in a metaphorical sense in reference to impending doom. The use of the phrase also indicates a prepared, rugged nature of the northern people.
Delivery Job Advertisement, Mock Spanish
This is a example of the use of "Spanglish" or mock Spanish where people combine what they see as simple Spanish words with English words to try to communicate with Spanish speaking people. This sign is a advertisement targeting both English and Spanish speakers for a delivery driver job, under the English portion the sign simply says "Se Necesita Delivery guy". The use of the Spanish mock Spanish is indexing Spanish speakers. [Published on 12-14-2017]
#I'mNoAngel
Lane Bryant challenges gender stereotypes about what it means to be sexy using #I'mNoAngel, indexing and contrasting with the stereotypical representation of sexy: the Victoria's Secret Angel.
Comedian Darren Knight aka Southern Momma and the big snow storm
Play videoComedian Darren Knight's rendition of how southern mothers react to a snow storm in the south.
The Kardashians' Language
Play videoIn this video (at around time 1:25), Millie Bobby Brown talks about the particular way the Kardashians speak, including slang terms that are used by the family members and viewers of their show.
When You're Latino & You Suck At Spanish
Play videoThis video depicts a young Latina woman who struggles to fit into a bilingual speech community. Her peers code switch between English and Spanish, expect her to do the same, and tease her when she cannot.
Google translate Despacito
Play videoLanguage ideology; it was thought Spanish can be a sexy/scandalous language but do non Spanish speakers really know what's being said. The lyrics does sound sexy and perfect with the melody. Code-switching; the translation is not what the music (song) portrays. The lyrics translation is not sexy, or 'catchy' it's not even what us non Spanish speakers feel the music should be. The fella said Despacito meant slowly, but the song indicates it means quickly.
Vocal Fry: The Rules
Play videoA somewhat comedic look at what vocal fry is and a plea from the video's author to stop it. The narrator talks about vocal fry's spread across various mediums and how it may be a reaction to rising vocal intonation that went way too far.
You Should Watch The Way You Punctuate Your Text Messages - Period
This article shows and interesting way of performativity in regards to the way texting has evolved over time. [Published on 12-20-2015]
My name is Jose Jimenez
Play video“My name is Jose Jimenez” became a popular catch phrase in America after Hungarian-Jewish descent Bill Dana performed this skit dressed as Santa Claus. Bill Dana utilized humor to soften the racializing stereotypes seen in most portrayals of Latin American men. Using Mock Spanish, the naïve character of Jose Jimenez was seen playing a variety of professions, including a United States astronaut. So popular was the character that Mercury astronaut Alan Shepherd adopted “Jose” as his official code name, and astronaut Jose Jimenez made a “guest appearance” at the 1961 Kennedy Inaugural Gala. In the 1960’s Bill Dana was honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his work as an activist. In 1970 with changing sensitivities concerning Mock Spanish and racial stereotypes, Bill Dana had an “official funeral” to declare Jose Jimenez dead.
Mandana Seyfeddinipur's TED Talk on Endangered Languages
Play videoThis is a TED Talk video of Mandana Seyfeddinipur, a linguist and the director of the
Endangered Lanuages Documentation Programme at SOAS University of London, sharing her
perspective on endangered languages. Seyfeddinipur shares how globalization, climate change,
urbanization and political unrest are causing the extinction of languages at a rate equivalent to
the loss of biological diversity during the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. She also emphasizes
how such change can negatively impacts cultural diversity and decreases social resilience.
1960 - Jackie Kennedy Spanish Ad
Play videoThis is a video of Jackie Kennedy doing a campaign ad in 1960 in Spanish. The goal of this video was to connect with the Hispanic voters. I chose this particular video because it shows how Jackie Kennedy used different speech communities to reach a certain group of people. Indexicality plays a role as well because she is indexing the Spanish speaking community.
Broad City
Play videoFor my sociolinguistic artifact I've chosen a brief clip from the popular show, Broad City. This clip is relevant to the course because it references language ideologies and addresses the issue of "Standardized English," or language. The clip shows how different pronunciation and ways of saying words can index cultural and social values.
English Motherf*****
Play videoAn interrogation scene from the HBO series The Wire. Through their use of mock language two detectives index a language ideology that places the immigrant's language as substandard to English. This language ideology restricts the agency of the immigrant by reinforcing language inequality through the positioning of English as the only tool that can serve the communicative function in this discourse.
SchoolBoy Q - Collard Greens(Explicit) ft. Kendrick Lamar
Play video"Collard Greens" by Schoolboy Q featuring Kendrick Lamar contains a verse which is an example of Mock Spanish in pop culture. This verse is from Kendrick Lamar and features him utilizing Spanish words as obscene euphemisms for humorous effect.
Martin Impersonates Daphne (Frasier)
Play videoA scene from the show Frasier which showcases Martin Crane teasing Daphne Moon's English Accent. I see a two linguistic-anthropology elements in the scene. First, by code-switching dialect during the interaction he is drawing attention to the fact that Daphne is not American. What this accomplishes is up for debate given that the two are friends and that the interaction was not hostile in nature. I'm guessing that the impression may mildly suggest that the two are not on equal footing; one is a "native" while the other isn't. This may work in elevating Martin's position in the argument. Second, Martin mentions how Daphne is always complaining about what to do with her hair. Here he is indexing a gender identity that might conflict with his own. In the reading I came across portions that relate language use as a form of identity expression and so while Daphne was being expressive of her female identity Martin, annoyed by her, replied with an antagonistic male critique of her speech.
Ad Meter 2016: Jeep Super Bowl Portraits
The commercial exemplifies prosody, indexicality and performativity. The speaker's poetic fluctuations are amplified by literary devices such as alliteration making prosody evident. By pointing to the individual (and eventually concluding "we don't make jeep. You do"), indexicality is evident. Performativity is also relevant because Jeep constructs identity in its audience by giving the audience something to identify with (via speech and photographs).
Trying American
Play videoIn this scene Daphne shares her frustration with how people react to her accent. This demonstrates how different accents and dialects index social identity, eliciting feelings and reactions sometimes unwanted by the speaker. These interactions may influence future discourse practices.
Differenze Linguistiche Meme
This meme features the translation of the same word in many different languages. All but one of the translations are usually the same. By comparing the words that sound similar with one that sounds different, the meme promotes the language ideology that the language with the different translation is incorrect. The faces beside the translations are also indexical to ideologies that already exist about the languages in the meme. In the linked image, all of the faces are calm except the one beside the German translation, which is angry. This indexes the common ideology that German is a harsh, angry language.
People Around The World Try An American Accent
Play videoIn this video, people from different countries do their impression of the English language in the United States. Many of them project different language ideologies according to the accent they sound out, whether it be: Southern, Minnesotan, New York, or a Wisconsin accent. With their impressions they link their cultural ideologies with what they say. For example, one guy does an impression of a Wisconsin accent and while projecting his best impression he talks about cheese, a cultural item often associated with the state.
Do I sound Gay?
Play videoThis is a documentary on netflix that looks what the stereotypes of how gay men speak. It also looks at the homophobia that present in in the conformity to the speech pattern and the stigma of "sounding gay". Stereotypes of speech patterns for gay men show indexicalitys of language. Hearing a person speak in a certain tone, pattern, etc. and using a social constructed stereotype, one is assumed to be gay if their speech pattern conforms to the stereotype and index identities that they might hold. Now whether this index is accurate of the person's identities are not is the problem that is being addressed in the documentary. The documentary also looks at how this stereotype of gay speech originated and how it was socially constructed to convey that the speaker is gay when conforming to this style of speech. The documentary as whole however assumes a naturalness to the speech patterns and features of straight males, and ignores the fact that there also features and patterns that are stereotypical of straight males that speak English that can be used to index their identities as well and is no way natural and is constructed by society as well.
The Crows in Dumbo
Play videoChildhood is an extremely critical time for socialization into a given culture. Children learn from parents, teachers, and friends about the norms and beliefs of their community. Language is an important category to be socialized into as language and ideologies surrounding language are intertwined with race, class, and status. Although there is no official language of America, English is pushed as the official language so much so that historically non-English speakers were forced by violence to shed their culture’s identity and language and subscribe to the “English-only” agenda. While the use of corporal punishment is not prevalent in modern society as a means of restricting non-English languages, the general attitude towards anyone who speaks something other than Standardized American English is unfavorable. The crows in Disney’s Dumbo show the ways in which language is used to stereotype a group of people which also acts to socialize young children to stigmatize people either directly or indirectly. In Jane Hill’s study on the use of Mock Spanish, she concluded that mock Spanish is directly linked to ideas of racism by saying, “racism is largely produced in and through everyday talk, not through the obvious racist slurs that most people today condemn but through unintentional, indirect uses of language that reinforce racist stereotypes” (Hill, 2008). Furthermore, Rankin and Karn’s study on Ebonics led them to the conclusion that “anti-Ebonics ideology is transmitted by a simple set of strategies which suggest one can ‘speak’ Ebonics by simply pejorating standard English” which then “produces a racialized language stereotype of a subordinate group” (Rankin & Karn, 1999). Disney’s portrayal of an animal who is colored black and speaking in a stereotypical manner of African Americans would further push the ideology that this is how all African Americans speak. This portrayal would then be normalized and viewed as acceptable based on the influence and power of media especially on children.
Weird Ways People Talk
Play videoThis video entitled, "Weird Ways People Talk," attempts at humor by mocking several different North American dialects of English. In so much that he can faithfully articulate English off the standard variant, he creates a divide between certain mocked groups and raises the so-called standard on a pedestal. In a similar light to mock-Spanish, these variants he mimics can be the origins of stereotypically thought.
"Why Explaining 'The N-Word' To Non-Black People Is So Damn Exhausting"
Article on Cultural Perceptions of the N-Word. Deals with which groups have responsibility or control over a word (and if they can have this control). This also shows lay-person perspective on key socio-linguistic issues. [Published on 05-09-2017]
British Villains -Tom Hiddleston en Jaguar F-Type Coupé
Play videoThis Jaguar car commercial adds to an ideology that an English accent sounds villainous. Indexically and through performativity the actor, Tom Hiddleston, describing how to successfully sound "villainous". This commercial is a part of a series featuring other British actors describing how to sound "villainous".
What if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Had Swapped Genders?
This article is about a play that recreated the debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but with a woman playing Trump, and a man playing Clinton. The actors trained to accurately replicate each candidates speech and gesture, and the project is meant to highlight the ways that similar stylistic gestures are deemed acceptable or not when used by men and women. [Published on 02-28-2017]
Donald Trump: We need to get out 'bad hombres'
Play videoThis is what Donald Trump said in the third presidential debate in regarding to the issue of immigration. In his speech, he used Spanish word “hombre” to refer to the immigrants that he views as bad people, which has some negative meaning. However, “hombre” in Spanish only means “men” without any negative meanings. This is a good example of mock Spanish as defined by Hill (1998). People can’t understand the meaning without understanding the indirect index of the badness and criminal of Spanish people. It also contains underlying racism which shows that Spanish people have a stereotype of being bad, and in contrast white culture is better than others.
Key & Peele - Office Homophobe (Language of Homosexuality)
Play videoIn many ways, Key and Peele focus on the concepts of stereotypes. In this video, the example is the perception of what is considered homosexual. Throughout the clip, it is demonstrated with one that has more focused effeminate inflection in his voice and does often associate heavily explicit material that manifests on the notion of language of homosexuality. Not only that, but the words and actions seem to be taken offense based on the entire argument of being persecuted for the actions of explicit material in the workplace. By the end, it shows that both individuals are homosexual with one following the stereotypes of language and body language of what societies perception of a homosexual and a more rea based homosexual in the same workplace. This demonstrates the notion many people have a perception of what is considered “natural” in language and people when focusing on the stereotype put effort to build around a language that deviates from the “norm.” Linguistically people have built perceptions about the culture behind various cultures and let the bias remain unchanged until something challenges the ideology. Here it is the perceptions of actions, body language, and various tones and words used that look to stereotype homosexuality.
Mock Spanish in Scrubs
Play videoIn this video from the show "Scrubs", one of the characters uses mock Spanish to demean some of the other characters from the show. It was interesting to see mock Spanish used in such a popular and well known show
"That's Not How Gay Men Talk!"
Play videoThis clip of the television series, "New Girl", indexes language ideologies regarding perceptions of how gay men should speak. At the end of the clip, Jess informs Nick, who is pretending to be gay, that his speech was incongruent with how gay men speak. This indexes the language ideology that there are a believed set of speech qualities that all gay men possess.
Russell Peters - Red, White, and Brown
Play videoRussell Peters is a famous Stand up comic who is known for his portrayals of other cultures and ability to mimic their accents. Russell is a world traveled individual who has shows in Bangkok, Dubai, Europe and America. He draws on his life interactions to really capture a moment or interaction and portray it in a humorous way. In this clip he is setting up a power hierarchy of cheapness and claiming that cheap is good thing to the minority and an insult to the Hegemonic identity in America. “Cheap” in this sense is going against the dominant cultural belief of cheap is an attribute that is unfavorable. This is showing the intermingled power struggle between the dominant class and others and how pushing back against ideologies is occurring. The voices used in separating the characters also indicate indexicality and Language socialization. The voices used help guide and reaffirm how we preserve different culture groups to sound. His experience and worldliness is also a point of power. Most people are not as traveled as Russell Peters and cannot truly understand the differences in cultures he is portraying however through him we get a glimpse of the other. He has the power in the setting and his perception of life is the one we are subjected to. His viewpoint on life is guided by humor and stereotyping for a broader audience in order to showcase cultural differences and how they interact and intermingle within the world.
"Fancy-speak"
A box for a chocolate lava cake from Domino's Pizza which refers to French as "fancy-speak" which relates to our discussion of language ideologies. [Published on 03-15-2017]
"Eumaeus", from Ulysses, p.508-509
" - A beautiful language. I mean for singing purposes. Why do you not write your poetry in that language? Bella Poetria! It is so melodious and full. Belladonna. Voglio.
Stephen, who was trying his dead best to yawn if he could, suffering from lassitude generally, replied:
- To fill the ear of a cow elephant. They were haggling over money...
- Sounds are impostures, Stephen said after a pause of some little time, like names. Cicero. Podmore. Napoleon... Shakespeares were as common as Murphies. What's in a name?"(Joyce, 508-509 Gabler Edition).
Bloom displays a typically 'folk' attitude towards language (see Preston 2002, "Language With an Attitude"), attributing qualities that inhere to the sounds and words of language itself - in this case viewing the sounds of the Italian language as "melodious and full". Stephen, who understands Italian, is able to take a more critical step back and question whether we can attribute meanings and qualities to the phonetic aspect of words and names, outside of the associations people come to build upon words such as the proper name 'Shakespeare'.
"A Mother", from Dubliners, p.117-8
"When the Irish Revival began to be appreciable Mrs. Kearney determined to take advantage of her daughter's name [Kathleen] and brought an Irish teacher to the house... Soon the name of Miss Kathleen Kearney began to be heard often on people's lips. People said she was very clever at music and a very nice girl, and, moreover, that she was a believer in the language movement" (Joyce, 117-118 Norton Critical Edition).
Here we see an interesting example of a language revival movement acting as a marker of social status, and even marriage eligibility for middle and upper-middle class Dubliners. While the Irish language doesn't hold prestige as the language of the state (Ireland is part of the U.K. at the time of "Dubliners"), it acts as a marker of in-group cultural identity and national pride for those able to study it - the lower and working class people of Dublin have no such opportunity (c.f. Ulysses, Joyce, 12-13). The daughter's name, "Kathleen", is another fashionable index for Irishness after the protagonist of a 1902 play by Yeats (footnote in text).
lesson 7.1 Tokyo vs Osaka Accent - same words, different sounds
Play videoThe differences in intonation between Osaka dialect and Tokyo dialect. Tokyo dialect is accepted as standard Japanese and is what is taught outside of Japan. In the video, the Osaka dialect speaker says that she is able to speak standard Japanese very well, but her pronunciation of "sensei" is what clued people in to her Osaka origins.
Lying Words: Predicting Deception From Linguistic Styles
This article studies how our linguistic styles differ when we are telling a lie. It uses a “computer based-text analysis program” to study whether study participants were telling the truth or not. It was able to correctly identify the liars and truth tellers at a rate of 61% overall. This article shows how liars showed “lower cognitive complexity, used fewer self-references and other-references, and used more negative emotion words.”
[Published on 06-01-2002]
"Engrish" in the anime Jojo's bizarre adventure
Play videoThis video is a compilation of samples of "Engrish" from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. "Engrish" is the term used for English used in what is perceived as an "incorrect" or "awkward" way. Primarily this term is applied to English translations. The most famous of these would be from the intro of the game Zero Wing. The Japanese version has the villain saying: "With the cooperation of Federation Forces, all your bases now belong to us." However, the english translation became "All your base are belong to us". This term has developed a broader meaning, being used to describe code switching in Anime. Often times these phrases seem almost nonsensical, such as "hail to you", other times the accent is incredibly think and difficult to understand.
"Token Black Woman" -Issa Rae
This gif comes from an episode of the show "Insecure" that aired recently on HBO. The show is based on Issa Rae, an African American woman, trying to navigate her way through her 20's. Rae works for a non profit called "We Got Ya'll," which helps children of color from low income communities to be successful in school. The non-profit was created by a white woman and Rae is the only black woman working there. Rae refers to herself as the "token black woman." This gif shows a white co-worker asking Rae the meaning of "on fleek." Her co-worker is assuming that because Rae is black, that she is familiar with this language. This is an example of her co-worker's language ideologies. Unfortunately for her co-worker, due to indirect indexicality, making this assumption actually makes her appear racist.
Rae spoke about the show, saying that the series will examine "the complexities of 'blackness' and the reality that you can’t escape being black." Rae also said, in regards to the potential mainstream reaction to the series: "We’re just trying to convey that people of color are relatable. This is not a hood story. This is about regular people living life."
"That Mexican Thing"
Play videoDuring the Vice Presidential Debate, Tim Kaine referred to some of the demeaning comments Donald Trump has made in the past, regarding Latinos. In response, Mike Pence said, "Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again." Whether Pence meant to be offensive to the Latino community or not, he most certainly was. Recently, Trump has tried to redeem himself with the Latino community, but with his VP referring to Latino issues as a "Mexican thing," it is apparent that Trump is engaging in hispandering.
Who is really “American”?
Play videoPeople from North, South and Central America discuss the use of the term “American” as an identifier by people from the United States. "Americans" have a linguistic ideology about what it means to be one and seem to ignore the fact that it excludes people from all other regions in the Americas.
How WSJ Used an Algorithm to Analyze ‘Hamilton’ the Musical
Joel Eastwood and Erik Hinton wrote an algorithm to analyze the different types of rhymes used in the tony Award Winning Broadway Musical "Hamilton", and reveal their Hip-Hop influences. [Published on 06-06-2016]
British People Attempting Their Best American Accent
Play videoIn this video we have people on the streets of Great Britain trying to do their best American accents. The accents revolved around "Southern," "Californian/Surfer," and "Hyper-Metropolitan" accents. The words included by those speaking generally reflected stereotypes involving surfing and smoking weed (for the Californian/Surfer), eating cheeseburgers, shopping, and gossip (Hyper-Metropolitan), and drinking beer and shooting guns (Southern). The participants were not asked to do a specific kind of "American accent," either, they merely did an accent that they deemed to be what is "the American accent." How Americans are perceived by these participants was evident in their style of speech and words chosen to reflect typical American conversation along; one could also possibly argue that this reflects that some British people group all of the American identities into one conglomerate identity which they deem to be wholly "American." Thinking about this more outside of the video, I feel that this could be true in terms of how Americans think of other cultures as well, like how Americans think of the British identities.
Bacon Bowl
Play videoThe Bacon Bowl commercial shows how knowledge about certain language communities and indexicality are used to make sales. The female host uses rhymes within her cheerfully delivered presentation, common staples of similarly-styled "As Seen on TV" commercials that index friendly and familiar qualities to appeal to a stereotypical mom or grandma audience. In addition, the host emphasizes diet and portions, along with rather specific cooking terms like "crisp up evenly" and "cut of bacon", and serves up an "I heart bacon bowl" pin as a free gift, further intending to index a generally female, family-oriented language community.
Yo skater!
This sign photo was posted by a TripAdvisor user who visited North Vancouver. The sign is aimed at skateboarders. By using slang language that indexes stereotypical skateboarders and the style in which they are perceived to generally speak, the Parks Department attempts to be humorous by exaggeratedly targeting the skater community, but in the process is trying to make a directed message with this style.
How Trump chooses his words
Play videoI found this video of Donald Trump quite interesting and relevant. This video clip shows Trumps visit on the Jimmy Kimmel show while giving us a look into “How Donald Trump Answers A Question”. In other words, the author of this clip analyzes Donald Trumps speech and gives viewers a linguistic perspective on Trumps word choice and language. While analyzing Trumps speech, the author of the video, “Nerdwriter1”, takes a look at Trumps word choice, syllable count, word rhythm, sentence structure and more. He then ties his analysis with a study done by the Boston Globe, which diagnosed past Presidential speeches. This video gives reason for cluing into peoples words, especially ones with influence and worldly impact like Donald Trump.
Rey's English Accent in Star Wars VII
A look at Rey's accent in "The Force Awakens" as a clue to her identity and parentage. Includes a discussion of style-shifting in the Star Wars universe as being representative of intersentential Code-Switching, as well as a discussion of what different codes are (generally) used to index. [Published on 12-23-2015]
The Onion: Nothing Doing Down Louisiana Way, Fly-Swattin’ Sources Report
In this article, the satirical news site The Onion attempts to imitate Louisiana/Cajun English, which is very different from the "Standard English" typically used by the media, including The Onion. The article uses phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical variables of Cajun English to satirize an over-the-top stereotype of people living in rural Louisiana. The linguistic features index certain social acts and attributes in order to form the Bayou stereotype. [Published on 04-12-2016]
Happy Valley creator calls for more northern accents on TV and radio
Sally Wainwright, a British writer, said that there should be more representation of northern England accents in British media, and described some of the qualities of northern English speech that she finds appealing. She also labels southern English as "posh." This might be an example of Ochs' (1993) model of indexicality, where certain linguistic features index social meaning, which then index a social category. It's also part of a larger discussion about media representation. [Published on 04-04-2016]
Indexing Style Since 55 BCE
Sometimes you try to pronounce your words more Greek-ly and you are made fun of 2000 years later. The Roman poet Catullus wrote this poem about an acquaintance of his whose habit of aspiration was seen as an attempt to sound more Greek. Oh how it backfired.
Response to "What it Means to Sound Gay" (LanguageLog)
Reed professor Sameer ud Dowla Khan's open letter response to NPR interview with filmmaker and speech pathologist from film project "Do I sound gay?" (transcript of interview found at link). Sameer describes how linguistic features do not necessarily link directly to social category (as is seen in indexical models) to problematize the concept of "natural"-ness in speech. (Compare with research done by Gaudio, Rudolph. 1994. Sounding gay: pitch properties in the speech of gay and straight men; especially re:criticisms of other studies made in introduction pp. 34-41). [Published on 07-10-2015]
Clinton and Sanders Univision Debate and Hispandering
Hispandering is brought up (with a negative connotation) to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during the Univision Democratic Debate in election 2016. [Published on 03-10-2016]
10 Surprising Ways to Offend People in Other Countries
Play videoThe video explores how the use of body language can mean one thing to a culture and a completely different thing to another. It provides good evidence to show that language can be communicated in other ways than verbal cues. It also shows the importance of the environment and the socialization process.
Speech Community Project
Play videoStudents of UNCC discuss their experiences within different speech communities, and how different ways of speaking separate each of us into different groups.
What Is Vocal Fry?
Stigmatizing a linguistic style prevalent among young females in our society.
Time to say goodbye
Play videoAndrea and Sarah Brightman were invited to perform the duet 'Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò). I love this song and I do not even know what they are saying, until code-switching occurs. I do not know the language that they are singing in?
Little Triggers
An Excerpt from Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories 'Trigger Warning'
Gaiman uses the introduction, to discuss the book's title. He discusses how the phrase is commonly being used to warn people about content that "could upset them and trigger flashbacks or anxiety or terror," He wonders if the phrase could be applied to his own writing which can often be haunting or spooky. He also wonders whether these warnings are appropriate at all. [Published on 10-23-2014]
india vs mexico
Play videoThis clip shows how different countries or races think or talk about other countries. The same thing he says here Americans typically say about Mexico.
Washington Redskins NBA Commercial
In this advertisement created by the National Congress of American Indians, the narrator takes the viewer through a number of "names" for Native Americans in the United States, including tribal names and other words that could be used to define the communities, before ending with an appeal that Native Americans would never describe themselves as "redskins." [Published on 06-10-2014]
language and social networks
social network factors of language variation
British Accents: Call Centre English
Play videoSome great discussion about language ideologies, and Diglossia, two variants of the same language.
Dude
Play videoThis video is a Bud Light commercial using the word Dude only. This video is a perfect example of Indexicality. The simple word is used in multiple contexts as well as multiple tones to convey completely different meanings.
Skins Outtake
Play videoAn outtake from the British TV show Skins, much like the "I speak jive" video, as it also has very formal subtitles and a white speaker who is revealed to speak the variety as well.
Sassy Gay Friend in Eden
Play videoSassy Gay Friend was mentioned in the Campbell-Kibler, so I thought I'd contribute my favorite. Definitely a good example of the stereotypical "sounding gay".
Key and Peele Rap Album Confession
Play videoThis Key and Peele sketch also makes use of a black AAE speaker and a white middle class establishment character. In contrast with Little Homie, this skit illustrates both Key and Peele's abilities to style shift according to the character they are portraying.
Key and Peele Little Homie
Play videoCW: Violence and blood. This skit by Key and Peele casts the comedians as a black speaker of AAE and a white establishment character who makes use of a puppet that speaks AAE.
The "lumberjack" aesthetic as a performed masculinity
This article somewhat disparagingly describes and attempts to interpret a recent trend popular among middle-class urban white men. Beards, flannel shirts, and other symbols index a "lumberjack"-inspired identity that the author feels is disconnected from the actual history of lumberjacks. Are these men attempting to reclaim a romanticized masculine image of hard work, strength, and daring (and do they fear masculinity is "in crisis")? Or are they performing a new, exclusively urban masculinity that symbolizes some other set of attributes? [Published on 12-10-2014]
A response to Naomi Wolf
Deborah Cameron's excellent response to Naomi Wolf. [Published on 07-26-2015]
"We Talk In Pictures Now, But What Does It Mean?"
This article talks about the ever-growing form of image-based communication (emojis, memes, GIFs, etc.) in Internet language. As Montreal linguist and writer Gretchen McCulloch says: "as social life migrates online, visual forms of communication become increasingly attractive because they replicate some of the physical experience we've lost." This article presents a really interesting sort of dichotomy between image and speech, and even image and word (as seen on a page). McCulloch and Tumblr-based artist Kari Altmann imply that images are in a sense more natural to us, more so than words (which, in my personal view, I don't really see as that different from images? For example, how do we check to make sure a word is spelled right? We write it out and make a judgment based on what it 'looks like.') and maybe even (spoken) language. @_@ wow... such semiotics... (See what I did there?)
One other thing McCulloch mentioned was how ironic it was that it was technology that transformed "images" (religious icons, etc.) into "words" in the first place (printing press) but it is now bringing it back.
Anyway, really interesting read! [Published on 05-03-2015]
Hahaha vs. Hehehe
A piece that muses on the different ways we portray "e-laughter" and how everything from the base chosen (ha vs. he) to the number of ha's, etc. or the number of letters used indicates certain meanings. [Published on 04-30-2015]
Pledging Allegiance to Islamophobia in US Classrooms
Last month, at a high school in New York, the pledge of allegiance was recited in Arabic in observance of National Foreign Language Week. This resulted in controversy among the students/families of the high school, largely due to their associations (the usual ones relating to Islamophobia) with the language. This issue is an interesting example of indexicality, especially the way in which it can misinformed and ultimately harmful. [Published on 03-23-2015]
When Politicians Lose Their Accents
Clip from All Things Considered discussing the way in which politicians, such as those currently running for president, tend to shift accents depending on audience/context. One of the politicians the clip mentions is governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, who has allegedly traded his "Wisconsin twang" for a more standard way of speaking in order to appeal to the nation at large. [Published on 04-18-2015]
MISS KO 葛仲珊 - CALL ME
Play videoMiss Ko is an American-Taiwanese rapper who code-switches in her lyrics, sometimes mid-sentence. It seems like the purpose of her code-switching is to create a "cool" identity. Most of the words or phrases in English are what I would associate with such an identity: references to American celebrities or slang like "main squeeze", "homie", or "holla at me". The bulk of the song is in Chinese, but she supplements English in order to (from my reading) present herself a certain way.
Baltimore Accent Discussion: Crabs for Christmas
An NPR tidbit about a Christmas musical that takes its charm from its use of the Baltimore accent. There's some nice discussion of what is indexed by the variety. [Published on 12-24-2014]
Lexicon Valley: What does it mean to sound gay?
A Lexicon Valley episode on sounding gay, with Benjamin Munson. [Published on 12-01-2014]
Language in Baltimore
Website featuring personal blog posts and podcasts about Baltimorese, including "hon" as an identity marker, and African American identity and Baltimorese.
Why language about race changes over time
An NPR piece on changing terms for racial and ethnic categories, but really is about how terms change over time through process of pejoration, or what Pinker calls the "euphemism treadmill." [Published on 11-10-2014]
Jamaican Creole - Jesse Royal
Play videoNoisey Jamaica interviews Jesse Royal, living in Kingston. It's interesting to listen to his Jamaican Creole productions as well as the host (Walshy), as he codeswitches rarely, very aware of his video audience who are assumed to speak "standard" English.
NPR: Talking while female
An NPR video piece on the criticisms of women's voices, including their use of higher pitch, HRT, creaky voice, and their evaluation as less authoritative [Published on 10-24-2014]
NPR: Our use of hidden words
An NPR story on the work of psychologist James Pennebaker, who uses computers to track the use of function words and pronouns in spoken corpora, illustrating the process of accommodation. [Published on 09-01-2014]
The sexiest accents in North America
A 2013 article on nj.com reporting that the Jersey accent is one of the top five "sexiest" accents, according to a survey on cupid.com
XKCD: Appropriate Term
A XKCD comic highlighting the formality continuum of style-shifting.
Stereotypes of an Appalachian Dialect
Play videoA speaker of an Appalachian dialect discusses stereotypes of his dialect.
Daily News: Locals and linguists argue that notorious Queens accent is fading away
A 2010 Daily News article asks first whether there is a distinctive Queens accent, and second whether that accent is fading, citing celebrities, locals, and linguists.
Star Trek: Yoopers
Play videoA YouTube video that spooks the "Yooper" accent (Upper Peninsula, Michigan)
If These Knishes Could Talk
Play videoA preview of the in-progress documentary "If These Knishes Could Talk: The Story of the New York Accent."
Second City: Sassy Gay Friend
Play videoa humor sketch from the Second City Network's series "Sassy Gay Friend." In this video, Sassy Gay Friend intervenes in Romeo and Juliet.
Dude: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Play videoValley Girl: Frank and Moon Zappa
Play videoA performance of Frank Zappa's song "Valley Girl," from the 1980s, featuring his daughter Moon Unit Zappa performing as a valley girl, and utilizing many features of California English.
"Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!"
Play audioThis audio feature is from the Summer 2012 issue of American speech and can be found on their website, www.americanspeech.dukejournals.org, for download. This piece is entitled "Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!" Exploring Hon as a linguistic and identity marker in Baltimore, and is presented by Holly-Catherine Britton and Heidi J. Faust.
The Wire: female police officer Kima Greggs
Play videoThe character Kima Greggs from the HBO series The Wire, in a scene where she aligns with masculine linguistic practices and other attributes. The character is female and homosexual.
Harvard Sailing Team: Boys will be Girls
Play videoA sketch from the Harvard Sailing Team displaying male actors using "women's language."
The Mindy Kaling Backlash
A 2012 Jezebel article discussing the negative reaction to Indian American writer/producer/director/actress Mindy Kaling, who has been characterized as "brash" and cocky for speaking confidently about her career.
Dude: Stanford Linguists Probe California Accent
Penelope Eckert and fellow researchers in California examine how English is spoken and perceived in different cities around the state in efforts to refute the stereotype that California English is accentless and homogenous.