Abstract
In this assignment I identified and analyzed some of the common conflicts that arise out of society’s lack of awareness. I choose a specific example to then describe, summarize, and analyze its language or literacy conflict and attidues.
Everyone Has an Accent
The presence of accent discrimination has also been visible in the media, where the “bad” characters on tv shows are the ones who usually inhabit foreign accents. Accents have been used as a way to categorize you as an insider or an outsider in society. Accent discrimination exists in our society, where having an accent is seen as being inferior to those who speak the “standard English”. Inhabiting an accent can be seen as a barrier that can prohibit someone from reaching their full potential. However, what if accents are not the barrier in society? What if we are the ones that have established these stereotypes towards accents and have set the barrier? This brings us to that ideology of how everyone does inhabit an accent, whether they are noticeable or unnoticeable to an individual.
In an excerpt from a tv show called “Mind Your Language”, it conveys an example of language stereotypes and discrimination. In this clip, a teacher teaches foreign students how to speak proper English in a classroom. The different student’s nationalities presented are Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Israel, and others. The accents of the foreign students are clearly shown in the show, along with their clothing style to further represent their culture. The authority figure in the classroom is a white male professor who has a British accent and throughout the video tends to correct the way the students speak. This event is taking place in the United Kingdom. In this specific episode, the teacher teaches foreign students how to properly pronounce grocery items. The teacher begins by taking a grocery item from a bag and asking each individual student how to pronounce each item. When the foreign students weren’t able to pronounce a word properly it would be humored in the show, with a laugh from the audience. For example, a foreign student with a Japanese accent would add the vowel o at the end of each word, like “languageo” or “understando”. While another student from China was represented as having an accent by not being able to say the sound of the letter R in word, instead she pronounced the letter R as an L. Overall, when the foreign students weren’t able to pronounce a word properly it would be humored in the show. There would be moments where the students would be socially degraded by showing their confusion towards the English Language. There is a clear presence of discrimination being made towards the students, where it is used to bring humor and entertain viewers in London.
The “Mind Your Language” TV show took London, therefore the common accent in this part of the world is a British or English accent. The local or standard accent of the show is being represented as British through the professor’s character. This makes non-standard speakers, by contrast, be seen as the ones with an accent. The comparison of accents in the show categories the foreign students as the ones that are speaking improper English. However, everyone has an accent, even if the Individual doesn’t notice it. We also tend to see others as having an accent because we take ourselves as being the norm or reference when we are comparing someone else’s speech. In the case of the tv show, the accent of the professor is being used as the reference as being the norm. We are used to the stereotypes on accents, that’s why when a stranger speaks, we usually try to associate it with another form of accent we heard before. These stereotypes on accents make it acceptable for society to devalue and socially oppress them. This is the way the show humors the way the forging students speak and even mocks them, where accents are looked down on because it is not considered standard English.
Another visual that shows the stereotypes of accents and the ideology that everyone has an accent is the image above. In the image, the white male on the left assumes that the man on the right doesn’t speak English correctly based on his appearance. This assumption that someone must have an accent because they have a different background extends to accent stereotypes. Therefore, when the assumption that the man on the left had an accent we made he was then immediately treated are being inferior. However, through the comic strip above, this idea of accent stereotyping is proven wrong through irony, where it is the white male who has an accent. Therefore, this contributes to the idea that everyone has an accent and that we have been programmed to devalue those who have an accent or speak differently from the standrd Englsih. In the case of the comic strip, the white male on the left is using his own accent as the norm or reference when he is comparing his own and someone else’s speech. Therefore, from the perspective of the man believes that he is speaking the “norm”(standard English) and that he doesn’t inhabit an accent.
In the book, Language Myths, edited by the linguists Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill contribute to this idea that everyone has accents. According to Professor David Abercrombie from Language Myths, there are three ways students use to distinguish someone’s way of speaking from someone else’s. One is the slight changes in consonants and vowels can change the meanings of the words. Another is the pitch or the rhythm of someone’s voice, like the rapid rise and fall pitch of a voice. These changes are clearly seen and distinguished when foreign students attempt to pronounce a word in English. The TV show seems to emphasize on the “improper” speech of the students, where this enables and makes sure that the viewers are taking into account their speech or “accents”. However, according to Language Myths, if you want or think you hear an accent, then you will subconsciously hear an accent. It is as if we hear a slight change in the way someone speaks, we are programmed to think that they have an accent. Also, without these aspects, we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the voice of people and everyone would the same. Therefore, it is the hearer who has to translate the way some are speaking, but the hearer usually cannot help seeing the differences between his or her own speech and the speaker’s speech. However, there are countries or societies that are more hostile when they hear something that’s not in the “norm”. In this case, the show is being more hostile to foreign accents by responding in a humorous way to the different dialects of the students. The show is not taking into account that accents reflect the places that we have been, where we were born or raised, our gender, how old we are, many other aspects of our life. In some cases, these accents can be used for the purpose of representing the more political and economic groups. Therefore, the term accent can be defined as a specific way each individual speaks. Rosina Lippi-Green adds to the ideas of the linguists Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill that everyone has an accent. According to Rosina Lippi-Green, there are only two major kinds of accents that can be identified as the first language(L1) and second language(L2). Those who are considered L1 are the individuals who have learned English when they were growing up, this term can be applied to the professor in the classroom. While L2 people are the ones who grew up with a native language and then had to adapt to another language, where this relates to the foreign students. The true difference between these two accents L1 and L2 is because of code-switching. When an L2 speaker is shifting from one language to another you can notice the “accent” or “differences”. This concept of code-switching is being showcased through the way of each foreign student because they are all L2 speakers. Being L2 speakers is what is setting them aside from being accepted as standard English speakers. This label is the reason that the foreign students are being mocked and not being taken seriously in the TV show. Despite this, the differences between L1 and L2 take away the point that they both have an accent. Therefore, the show can be seen as being ironic because it is humoring the accents of foreign students, but the professor himself also has an accent.
Accents reflect the places that we have been, where we were born or raised, our gender, how old we are, many other aspects of our life. In some cases, these accents can be used for the purpose of representing the more political and economic groups. Everyone inhabits an accent, whether they are noticeable or unnoticeable to an individual. In the “Mind Your Language” TV show is taking place in London. Therefore, the no standard speakers, by contrast, will be seen as the ones that have an accent. Rosina Lippi-Green adds to the ideas of the linguists Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill(Language Myths) that everyone has an accent. There are only two major kinds of accents that can be identified as the first language(L1) and second language(L2). Where L2 speakers have to code-switch from one language to another, where you can notice the “accent” or “differences” in their language. The language attitude of stereotyping accents because it is not standard English that has socially oppressed people with accents. Therefore, the term accent can be defined as the specific way a person speaks, where “accents” everyone would sound the same.
Work Cited
Bauer, Laurie, and Peter Trudgill. Language Myths. London ; New York, Penguin Books, 2007.
Gstatic.Com, 2019, encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSVqQiSNzkCUCVTC7N8twVqnXPrUp92VQV8HVEhvVCm8m1Bg497gQ&s. Accessed 28 Nov. 2019.
Lippi-Green, Rosina. “Accent, Standard Language Ideology, and Discriminatory Pretext in the Courts Author(s): Rosina Lippi-Green Source: Language In.” Society, vol. 23, no. 2, 1994, pp. 163–198, rosinalippi.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lippi-Green1994Accent-standard-language-ideology-and-discriminatory-pretext-in-the-courts.pdf.
“Mind Your Language – Shopping for Groceries.” YouTube, 4 Jan. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGMLy55XJw. Accessed 28 Nov. 2011
