Ling 122: English as a World Language

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Ling 122 English as a World Language

• 7. American Tongues

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• When you watch the video, note examples of
  prejudice and stereotypes in some of the
  peoples evaluations of dialects and accents. Be
  prepared to cite some of these examples
  specifically, and state why you believe that
  some dialects and accent evoke feelings of
  prejudice and stereotypical images.

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• 2. Look for examples, within certain speakers,
  of switching between dialects and styles. When
  and why do they do this switching?

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• 3. There are many illustrations of differences
  in dialects in terms of the lexicon and
  syntactic structures. Write down some of those
  lexical items and/or syntactic structures that
  seem most unlike what you yourself would say.
  For example, you might never use the phrase
  might could. What would you say instead?

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• In an excellent introductory book about
  sociolinguistics, Language in Society, Suzanne
  Romaine states that what causes a particular way
  of speaking to be perceived as superior is the
  fact that it is used by the powerful (p. 19).
• Is there evidence in the film which supports this
  statement? If so, what exactly is this evidence?
• Do you agree with Romaines statement? Why or why
  not? In answering this question, consider the
  concepts of overt and covert prestige, and
  the implications of these terms for identifying
  the powerful in official and non-official
  domains.