Ling 122: English as a World Language

1. Ling 122: English as a World Language 7. American Tongues

2. When you watch the video, note examples of prejudice and stereotypes in some of the people’s 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.

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

4. 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?

5. 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 Romaine’s 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.