User:Mbooth13/The Social Hierarchies of English Accents and Dialects

Various dialects and accents make up the English language throughout the United States due to its vast multicultural population. Because of the difference between people’s accents and dialects they are often discriminated upon or held to a higher standard. Whether this is done intentionally or not, the split between the recognition of an intellectual or discriminated against dialects or accents causes a social hierarchy amongst various cultural groups. It is unfortunate to think that a social hierarchy is formed from something as simple as the way an individual speaks the English language. This hierarchy in turn can pose serious inequalities and disadvantages to the less prestigious dialects while not hindering the upper class English speakers to any extent.

History

The origination of the English language dates back to two successive waves of settlers starting in the 7th century from various parts of northwest Germany, the Scandinavians and French speaking Normans, who settled in Britain. For the two groups to interact they developed a highly creolized English in order to meet the basic needs for communication. The Scandinavians were responsible for their simple grammar and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Friesian core of English, while the Normans were responsible for using this core language to incorporate vocabulary that was more elaborate from the Romance branch of European languages. The English language then was developed primarily by borrowing elements from various different languages. The English language was first brought to North America, and therefore the United States, in the 17th century from the English speaking immigrants from Britain. It is the language spoken by the majority of Americans, but Spanish, French, Hawaiian, and 336 other languages were and still are spoken within the country today. These languages were brought over to the United States over the centuries by many diverse individuals from different countries and cultures who emigrated from their home country bringing with them their native language. Even though English is not the main language of the United States and these emigrated individuals, it has always been the most prestigious one, therefore they have been forced to learn the language in order to be successful within the country. This leads to the various accents and dialects throughout the US with the incorporation of an immigrants native language vernacular with the English language. The various geographical regions of the United States also produce many different accents and dialects due to the people that settled their centuries ago.

Racial Attitudes

Many different ethnic groups tend to often feel discriminated against because of their vernacular differences among other in the American society. This forms social inequality amongst these racial groups leading to animosity between various races. Currently there are 26 states in the US that declare their official language to be English and therefore the individuals within these states are forced to speak the language in order to gain status and be accepted 2. However, even when these individuals can, and do speak the English language properly, native English speakers tend to belittle these individuals intelligence and credibility based solely on their accent and dialect. A study done in Canada with African American women proved that even when these women were fluent in English and had received forms of higher education including master’s degrees, they were still believed to be unskilled in the English language, inexperienced, and oftentimes corrected rather than listened to. Obviously then, first impressions make a difference, and in today's world, it's not what you say, but how you say it that can make a big difference. If not for the racial discrimination they receive for the color of their skin, their accents and dialects seem to be there to open the doors to discrimination. While they may find it frustrating to be discriminated against because of it, individuals who have these strong accents and dialects are proud of their heritage and culture and therefore the way they speak. As for the study with the Africian American women in Canada, although they were frustrated with the many problems associated with their language, they believed that their accents expressed their identity and showed their pride and admiration of their former homes. This is the case with most individuals as they sometimes try to hold on to their accents instead of conforming so they can keep true to their former homes.

Stereotypes

Career opportunities

People with strong accents and dialects are often encouraged to stay away from jobs that require speaking. Thick foreign accents such as that of an African-American, are the prime targets as opposed to regional accents. Hirers tend to reject these individuals no matter how educated they are. However, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission put in the Civil Rights Act that there is to be no discrimination based on “the linguistic characteristics of a national origin group” 3. This means that employees can not initially be denied the job or opportunity based on their accents, but in order to be considered for the job they must prove themselves in several ways and really impress their employer. In the end however, the employer has the final decision to reassign or simply not hire an individual if they believe that their accent or lack of English skills prevents them from performing a necessary job. Therefore, most individuals with strong accents are forced to work in jobs that limit their communication, thus limiting their job opportunities. Individuals who speak General American, the so called neutral American accent, are oftentimes given the occupations that deal with communicating to large masses of people, such as television announcers, radio broadcasters, etc. Unlike with foreign immigrants, these individuals therefore have no difficulties regarding their accents and their career opportunities.

Living conditions

Back in the 1920’s racial discrimination was a big problem in American real estate as individuals could be denied housing based solely on their race. That discrimination was resolved in 1968 when the Fair Housing Act was passed, disallowing this to continue 4. However, in this day and age, there is opportunity for discrimination without even witnessing the race of an individual. Research shows that Americans are capable of making fairly accurate racial attributions on the basis of an individual’s accent and dialect alone (Feagin 1994). In fact, a large majority of individuals who speak with Black English Vernacular or Black Accented English are discriminated against in the US housing market over the phone even before they get the chance to meet a landlord in person. Oftentimes landlords will simply tell these individuals that the place they are enquiring about has been occupied. However studies show that if a landlord has denied an individual with black accented English an apartment, and an individual with white accented English calls after that they will be more then happy to offer the apartment (Feagin and Sikes 1994). Therefore oftentimes, individuals with black accented English sadly resort to getting their friends with white accented English to enquire about housing for them.

Advantageous accents/dialects

General American is the name given to the accent regarded as generally "neutral" within the USA. Because of this, it is a good reference accent when foreigners are attempting to learn the English language. General American is the accent that most Americans refer to when they claim they don’t have an accent. This accent leaves no room for discrimination towards the individuals possessing it. Moreover, individuals from England living in America are greeted with the highest level of prestige compared to other foreigners and often Americans themselves. Although sometimes their English accents are not understood, Americans always give them respect and occasionally more authority because of it (Jones 2001). As for geographical regions within the United States that are viewed as more prestigious then others, the Northern region, specifically New England is said to be one of the most prestigious accents because of Boston's early economic and cultural importance and the presence of Harvard University (Delaney 2005). Oftentimes, their dialect and accents alone can make them seem intelligent even without extensive education.

Disadvantageous accents/dialects

With the exception of England, thick foreign accents are almost always regarded as less prestigious in the USA. Regional accents that involve a country twang, southern drawl, or valley girl connotation are also often looked down upon. Thick foreign accents and the dialects that accompany them are often accompanied with the notion that you are uneducated, inexperienced, and incapable of completing a task better then an American. Oftentimes these individuals are highly qualified but have to resort to lesser services because of the discrimination surrounding their foreign accents and accompanying dialects. Southerners in particular with their country twang and southern drawl are often looked upon as uneducated and given a lower status because they speak at a slower pace and have an odd grammatical structure that incorporates double-modal constructions along with sporadic vowel shifts in different words (Collins and Wyatt 2005). The valley girl accents and dialects found often on the west coast are also often looked down upon because they are typically characterized by a ditzy personality and an unapologetically spoiled behavior that shows more interest in shopping, personal appearance, and popular social status, instead of self-enriching pursuit. These individuals may seem prestigious in their economic value, but the accents brings with it the notion of lack of education or knowledge.

Academic References


 * Gillian Creese and Edith Ngene Kambere. "What Colour is your English"(University of British Columbia) The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 40 no5 565-73 D 2003


 * 3 -“Accents can be Tricky and Troublesome”. LRP Publications; EEO Vol 7, No.3. 1 September 2005.


 * 4 – “Use of Black English and Racial Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets: New Methods and Findings.” Urban Affairs Review 2001 36: 452-456


 * Feagin, J. R. 1994. A house is not a home: White racism and U.S. housing practices. In Residential Apartheid: The American legacy, edited by R. D. Bullard, J. E. Grigsby III, and C. Lee, 17-48. Los Angeles: CAAS.


 * Feagin, J. R., and M. P. Sikes. 1994. Living with racism: the black middle-class experience. Boston: Beacon.


 * Jones, Katharine W. (2001). “I’ve called ‘em Tom-ah-toes all my LIFe and I’m not going to Change!?: Maintaining Linguistic Control Over English identity in the U.S. Accent

Web References

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/news/2005/11/28/StateLocal/Will-Southern.Accents.Disappear-1113949.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailytexanonline.com
 * 1- Wikipedia contributors, "English language," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_language&oldid=30411645 (accessed November 27, 2005).
 * 2- Wikipedia contributors, "English-only movement," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English-only_movement&oldid=30368658 (accessed November 27, 2005)
 * Delaney, Robert, “Dialect Map of American English,” http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/1906/dialects.html (accessed November 29, 2005)
 * Collins, Jeffrey; Wyatt, Kristen, “Will Southern Accents Disapear?” The Daily Texan, 2005 (The Associated Press)