Socioeconomic Status
A Zine Piece Written in Hawaiian Pidgin
Pages 12-13. Written by a native Hawaiian in [Published on 03-01-2022]
American pop culture LOVES these 10 accents
Play videovideo explaining how different accents are used to portray personae in American pop culture media
Life of Brian - Latin Lesson - Romans Go Home!
Play video1979's "Life of Brian" comedically depicts the titular main character, played by Graham Chapman, defacing, in Latin, a Roman monument. A Roman centurion, played by John Cleese, stops him and punishes him for his "bad" grammar. The scene is largely a parody of the relationship between English schoolchildren and their teachers. Linguistically, it's interesting as a demonstration of prescriptive norms as well as the representation of different dialects. Cleese's dialect is meant to sound more elevated while Graham Chapman's, who is from Melton Mowbray, north of London, is meant to sound less elevated, which is supposed to add to the comedy. Funnily enough, I think some of Brian's usages correlate with changes that would end up occurring in Latin before it changed into the various Romance languages.
Rich Vs Good In English | Street Interview India
Play videoSiddhartth Amar, a youtuber, interviews Indian people in the street to ask whether they'd prefer a romantic partner be rich or be fluent in English.
Bernie Sanders' accent, explained
Play videoThis video briefly explains some aspects of the New York accent, such as r-dropping and vowel raising. It also goes over how the New York accent is strongest in the working class, how movies have stigmatized the accent, and how young people are much less likely than older New Yorkers to have these features in their speech. I think this ties nicely into our discussion of the Labov and Mather because it discusses the general trend away from the New York accent that may be occurring.
How a New Accent Overturned BBC Tradition and Messed With the Nazis
Another thing about RP and the BBC.
Regional Accents debate on the BBC
Play videoIn a BBC news interview two white women talk about "polishing" or "smoothing" accents in order to be taken more seriously (particularly in work/business situations). I find the opinions of both these women problematic especially the idea that "accents should fit in with the people you are with" which immediately brings up issues of class and "prestige" not to mention the fact that opportunities to change ones accent are not available to everyone and instead perpetuates this idea of an accent-based hierarchy of what counts as "proper" English.
The RP English Accent – What is it, how does it sound, and who uses it?
Play videoA brief overview of RP - the history and cultural significance of the accent, and a few physiological details
Ideology from Friends
Play videoAn excerpt from a Friends episode where Phoebe attempts a "posh" British accent.
MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Busts Out His Baltimore Accent
Play videoIn this video, a Maryland-born reporter gives an example of "Baltimorese," an accent of English found among many white working-class individuals in the Baltimore metropolitan area. This video also gives an example of language prejudice, as the reporter from Maryland expresses his own dislike for the accent, and the two other reporters mock the accent to some extent. Given that Baltimorese is a working-class accent, this prejudice against the language is likely a proxy for some prejudice against working class people.
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]
Ideologies and stereotypes of southern english
Play videoMusician performs song explaining ideologies and stereotypes associated with the southern accent and the feelings some speakers have about it.
The Game-Spanglish
This is a song the is by the rapper, The Game, and the song is titled "Spanglish". Growing up in Compton, California, The Game was subjected to many interactions with gang members and other individuals; this includes many hispanics. I found it interesting that this song includes a good amount of mock spanish, which i relevant to our final paper. In the song, Game switch back and forth between spanish to english and describes his life growing up in Compton along with the love for his city. [Published on 07-25-2017]
Racism In America (Satire)
Play videoAs we have thoroughly discussed Mock Spanish, along with language, race, ethnicity, the following YouTube video is a humorous play on racism in America. The Hispanic housemaid is faced with her racist boss as she's assumed to be a thief, an idiot, and not know English, simply because she is not a white American. It also highlights the tendencies to classify someone as not as intelligent simply because they do not fit the stereotype for where we are from. Again, this is a humorous spin on real life happenings that occur, many of which are oblivious to us.
Kroll Show - Rich Dicks - Dunch
Play videoIn this Kroll Show skit, Rich Dicks, Drunch, the two men, Wendy and Aspen, embellish their “rich” lifestyle by the purchasing a restaurant. They get the name of their restaurant by combining “dinner” and “lunch.” Customers who are are in the same socioeconomic community as them elongate words and use a higher pitched tone resulting in intonation after a statement. Additionally, they insert “r” in several words, like in Liam Nersen(Neeson), carsh (cash), and hur (here), resulting in a /ar/, /ʌr/ or a hooked schwa sound. To differentiate the socioeconomic status between the characters, the chef in the skit does not follow the same language performance as Wendy and Aspen.
Romani ite domum - Monty Python's Life of Brian
Play videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lru4dJ4J6g In an act of rebellion against the Roman occupation of Judea, Brian writes in Latin "Romans go home". He is caught by a Roman soldier played by John Cleese who, instead of punishing Brian for vandalism, corrects Brian's grammar and forces him to conjugate his "grafitti"
Mitchell on Manners
Play videoThis is the first of a four part series exploring linguistic interactions surrounding manners and their culturally-defined meanings. The program describes how cultural norms determine what is considered polite or rude, such as what questions you can ask another person and how you should address people who are older or younger than you. Manners in Western Europe are explained to be standards set by the ruling and higher class members of society who sought to further establish their superiority over the lower classes, who couldn't afford eight different knives for a singular meal. The discussants also speak about a possible delineation between "etiquette" and "manners." The later portions of the program discuss expectations of social interaction, such as not constantly looking at one's phone while accompanied by another person and to ensure that there are no awkward pauses during a conversation.
Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors' Accents
Play videoThis video picks apart different actors movie accents and talks about whether they are appropriate to the dialect they are portraying. It gives insight into what unique phonological features make an accent sound authentic, and the relevant social context that can affect a person's way of speaking. This video pick apart different actors movie accents and talks about whether they are appropriate to the dialect they are portraying.
These accents include some that relate to socioeconomic classes in the English language, and english accents from different geological location around the world. The video gives insight into what unique phonological features make an accent sound authentic, and the relevant social context that can affect a person's way of speaking.
"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).
Why the DEA's embrace of Ebonics is lost in translation
There are many people who are upset that the DEA are hiring on individuals who are fluent in AAVE or Ebonics because they see this form of language as “broken” or a “bastardization of English.” What people don’t understand is that the DEA is doing this because it is important to have people who understand these vernaculars because of the discriminatory treatment of blacks in the criminal justice system. They want to better understand and present these types of people in their native language because of the constant misunderstandings of their words when law enforcement is involved. It is important for the DEA to have people on their teams who understand this time of vernacular so there is not discrimination or misunderstandings. [Published on 08-25-2010]
My Fair Lady - Why Can't The English?
Play videoThis song called "Why can't the English?" from the movie My Fair Lady. In this song Henry Higgins starts the song off by singing: "Look at her, a prisoner of the gutter, Condemned by every syllable she utters By right she should be taken out and hung, For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue." referring to Hepburn. With this, followed by a lot of remarks that are similar in nature, he is implying very strongly that there is a Standard English language that should be spoken by all English people, and if anyone doesn't, "by right" they could be hung. He says most people are never "taught" and instead learn other stigmatized varieties of English and refers to these as murderers of the English tongue. He is in this way implying that there is a legitimate use of proper English language, and that is the standard variety that he speaks. therefore considering himself as a "better Englishman", and more educated, in this way making a social class distinction between him and the others. He is also implying that there should be unity of the nation as mentioned by Bourdieu in "The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language". Higgins refers to the English speaking people of England as Englishmen, but also mentions that non-standard speaking varieties are "painful to your ears" and is afraid they will never be able to get "one common language".
New Girl - Schmidt & Winston Crack Scene
Play videoIn this scene, Schmidt tries to help Winston stay true to himself, and Winston suggests they can do this by getting cocaine. Schmidt tries to accommodate Winston by going to a rougher neighborhood. Schmidt tries to fit into the situation at hand, albeit often unsuccessfully, but his linguistic style-shifting is most apparent as he tries to get the "drug dealer's" attention.
Karen from Will and Grace speaks in Mock Spanish
Play videoIn this clip from the sitcom Will and Grace, Karen speaks to her Hispanic maid/nanny in pseudo- Spanish on the phone. She uses terms like “store-o” in order to seem like she is speaking with Spanish endings. Karen then goes on to ask her friend will how to pronounce something in Spanish, and then continues to just say the English words. She even goes so far as to use Spanish words for “thank you” and “goodbye” but in the wrong context. She uses Spanish not as an actual way to communicate with a native Spanish speaker, but rather to as a way to completely disregard the syntax and morphology of another language.
Perfomativity of language in different speech communities
Play videoThe video is a speech made by Donald Trump. It is obvious that the different speech communities that Donald Trump are in contribute to his different styles of speaking.
Unapologetically Southern
Play videoIn this video, Chad Prather, a man who identifies himself as a Southern Gentleman. "Rants" in defense of his southern "accent" or dialect. Here we can see a man defending his own way of communication against attacks (in the form of social media messages and comments) from people who hold the language ideology that his accent proves that he is not intelligent.
Kiezdeutsch
A brief description of Kiezdeutsch, a German dialect first classified as an ethno- or multiethnolect, with primarily Turkish and Arabic foundations. This article emphasizes the sociolect's primary usage among young speakers in larger cities. (Compare with Matsuda's reference to a "youth accent", pp 1361 in Voices of America. The Yale Law Journal.1991.) [Published on 02-11-2012]
Kyle vs. Kanye
Play videoHighlights the absurdity of participating in rap culture without adapting some amount of AAE - the protagonist's middle-class white background clashes in the way accounted for in Cutler, Cece, 2003. Note the only potential AAE marker, "dope" which is marked in the above article as a strictly "fake" AAE marker.
Gender Has/Has Not Been Hijacked by White MiddleClass
Play videoPortion of a very interesting debate at the Oxford Union regarding whether feminism has been hijacked by "white middle class" women. Engages so many topics,including race, poverty, feminism/gender politics.
The Ebonics Controversy in my Backyard
This article talks about Ebonics and Code-Switching, It explains what happened when the Ebonics controversy broke out.
Hooked on Ebonics
The article dives into several important concepts as they relate to the understanding of Ebonics. The author explains that there are rules and variety within Ebonics that demonstrate its value as a variety of English. The author also addresses that Ebonics is not just "a black thing" and that many whites, Hispanics and Asian Americans all engage in AAVE.
Nigerian Pidgin English accepted as unofficial second language
Play videoA news story with examples of spoken NPE as well as cultural context for the shift in perception of the Creole Language.
Bernie Sanders' Accent
A description of Bernie Sanders' accent. Includes brief discussions of vowel-raising and vocalization of r in New York City English, as well as of terminal t enunciation, which is linked to Jewish dialects of English. The decline in New York City English usage over time and its usage as linked to socioeconomic status are also discussed (compare with Labov, William. 1972. Language in the Inner City.; and Mathers, Patrick-André. 2012. The social stratification of /r/ in New York City: Labov's department store study revisited). [Published on 02-18-2016]
Baltimore Barbie
An SNL skit profiling "Sturdy Barbie," a contender for the new line of Barbies with a working-class, Baltimore accent and persona. [Published on 02-08-2016]
Thug Kitchen: Literary Blackface
Play video"Now, the Hollywood couple behind online blog turned vegan cookbook are in the limelight for a clumsily adopted, expletive-charged “thug” persona reminiscent of hypermasculine Black men. Thug is a heavily loaded word and while it is not explicitly synonymous with African Americans, it recently adopted new meaning and performs as a colloquial version of the n word. Did I mention the founders of Thug Kitchen are white? Yes, white. The authors kept their identities anonymous for quite some time."
-http://www.forharriet.com/2014/10/dear-creators-of-thug-kitchen-stop.html#axzz3S8EWrMRn
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]
"This is her, right?" "This is me, right?"
Play videoCatherine Tate as teen Londoner Lauren, performing the quotative "this is + SPEAKER" among other features associated with urban young Londoners of low socio-economic class.
Black South African English 2
Play videoThis variety of Black South African English is notable (especially in comparison to the BSAE speaking security guard) for its more Cultivated style--which makes sense in context because the advertisement is for a South African university and therefore indicative of a higher socioeconomic class and exposure to the standard.
Australian Zoo Tour with Steve Irwin
Play videoSteve Irwin's Australian English is considered "broad."
Estuary English
Play audioA young man living in Portland, Oregon who uses a variety of southeastern British English that some scholars refer to as Estuary English.
Stereotypes of Variation within a Creole (TCE)
A non-Linguist self reflects on attending her "prestige" secondary school in Trinidad, noting auditory intonational and lexical differences that marks these girls. They also tend to speak closer to the (acrolectal) "Standard," marked as the more educated (prestige) style of discourse. [Published on 07-19-2010]
Is Learning a Foreign Language Really Worth It?
This is a Freakonomics podcast on the economic worth of learning a foreign language, addressing the "return on investment" of language learning (or, will all of those hours you spent in Spanish class really help you financially in the future?). Of particular interest are sections from 0:58-4:00, which poses the question to be addressed in the podcast, and has a few nice examples of ideologies about language learning and bilingualism from (probably wealthy, upperclass) kids, and 13:10-18:23, which reveals the actual monetary value of language learning. It is important to note that this podcast is mainly from the perspective of a native English speaker learning a foreign language, although native speakers of other languages learning English are mentioned towards the end.
American Tongues: New Orleans
Play videoA clip from the documentary American Tongues featuring speakers of New Orleans English, who discuss being judged for sounding uneducated. "If you keep your mouth shut you'd be perfect."
American Tongues: Linguistic Insecurity
Play videoA clip from the documentary American Tongues profiling speakers with linguistic insecurity, including a speaker from Brooklyn who takes accent reduction classes to reduce her New York City accent.
American Tongues: Tough Guy from Boston's North End
Play videoAn excerpt from the documentary American Tongues profiling speakers from the North End of Boston.
Stereotypes of an Appalachian Dialect
Play videoA speaker of an Appalachian dialect discusses stereotypes of his dialect.
Dark-skinned and plus-sized: the real Rachel Jeantel story
Report on how the defence lawyer in trial of Trayvon Martin's killer tried to make Martin's girlfriend's testimony sound less convincing by discrediting her and her non-standard English.
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.
Michael Caine: An Accent that Broke Class Barriers
Play videoA 2009 Times Talks interview with actor Michael Caine, who is a native speaker of Cockney English
Jeff Foxworthy's "redneck" definitions
Play videoJeff Foxworthy provides Rachel Ray with some "redneck" definitions and illustrates his Southern dialect - he's from Atlanta, Georgia.
(r) in New York City English
(Enlarge image)The classic graph from Labov (1966) showing stratification by socioeconomic class and speaker style for coda r vocalization in New York City English