Chapter 4

Please note that the labels on each recording (for example, "Chicago English" or "Black English") were provided by the person who made the recording available for you to listen to. Other linguists or individuals may not agree on the description as it stands. The best example of this: you'll note that some recordings are marked "general" American, which is problematic for the same reasons the term "standard" English is problematic.

Audio Examples

Audio

Accent	Chapter	Page #	Online Example Title	URL
Standard American English	4	93	International Dialects of English Archive: General American	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/general-american
Standard British English (BBC)	4	94	International Dialects of English Archive: England Seven (white male, origin unknown, RP speaker, archeologist) International Dialects of English Archive: England Twenty Eight (white male, born 1971, Hertfordshire, RP speaker) International Dialects of English Archive: England Thirty Nine (white male, Brighton, teacher/actor, RP speaker) International Dialects of English Archive: England Sixty Three (female, born 1954 in Far East, RP speaker) International Dialects of English Archive: England Sixty Five (male, born 1957, Surrey, RP speaker) International Dialects of English Archive: England Sixty Eight (black male, mid-thirties, London, RP and black London speech)	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-7 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-20 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-39 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-63 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-65 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-68
North Central (including Indiana)	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Illinois International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Indiana International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Iowa International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Michigan International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Minnesota International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Ohio International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Wisconsin	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/illinois http://www.dialectsarchive.com/indiana http://www.dialectsarchive.com/iowa http://www.dialectsarchive.com/michigan http://www.dialectsarchive.com/minnesota http://www.dialectsarchive.com/ohio http://www.dialectsarchive.com/wisconsin
Mid-Atlantic	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Maryland International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of New Jersey International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of New York International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Pennsylvania International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Virginia International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of West Virginia	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/maryland http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-jersey http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york http://www.dialectsarchive.com/pennsylvania http://www.dialectsarchive.com/virginia http://www.dialectsarchive.com/west-virginia
New England	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Maine International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Massechusets International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of New Hampshire	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/maine http://www.dialectsarchive.com/massachusets http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-hampshire
Colorado	4	97	The Speech Accent Archive: English 371	http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1303
West Coast	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of California International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Oregon International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Washington	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/california http://www.dialectsarchive.com/oregon http://www.dialectsarchive.com/washington
Michigan	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Michigan	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/michigan
Minnesota	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Minnesota	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/minnesota
Wisconsin	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Wisconsin	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/wisconsin
Ohio	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Ohio	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/ohio
Pennsylvania	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Pennsylvania	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/pennsylvania
Maryland	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Maryland	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/maryland
Delaware	4	97	C-SPAN Video Library: Military Family Support Programs (Dr. Jill Biden)	http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/FamilySu
Washington, DC	4	97	The Speech Accent Archive: English 158 The Speech Accent Archive: English 198 The Speech Accent Archive: English 335 The Speech Accent Archive: English 383 The Speech Accent Archive: English 393 The Speech Accent Archive: English 411 The Speech Accent Archive: English 412	http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=540 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=663 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1216 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1326 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1337 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1371 http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=1372
New York City	4	97	International Dialects of English Archive: New York Three (Puerto Rican male age 49, The Bronx) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Four (white male, Brooklyn/Bronx age 20) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Five (white male, Jewish, Queens, born 1947) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Six (white female, Jewish, Queens, born 1947) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Seven (white male, Jewish, Bronx, born 1940) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Eight (white female, Jewish, Bronx, born 1943) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Eleven (Italian-American male, Brooklyn/Queens, born 1954) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Thirteen (white male, Jewish, Manhattan, born 1975) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Sixteen (African-American female, Brooklyn, born 1967)	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-3 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-5 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-6 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-7 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-8 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-11 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-13 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-16
Mississippi	4	98	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Mississippi	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/mississippi
Brooklyn	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: New York Four (white male, Brooklyn/Bronx age 20) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Eleven (Italian-American male, Brooklyn/Queens, born 1954) International Dialects of English Archive: New York Sixteen (African-American female, Brooklyn, born 1967)	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-11 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-16
Irish	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects and Accents of Ireland	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/ireland
Scotch	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects and Accents of Scotland	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/scotland
American	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: General American	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/general-american
French	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects and Accents of France	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/france
German	4	99	International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects and Accents of Germany	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/germany
AAVE	4	100	International Dialects of English Archive: Alabama Four (African-American female, born 1928, Chambers County, AL) International Dialects of English Archive: Alabama Nine (African-American female, born 1942, Tuskeehee, AL) International Dialects of English Archive: Alabama Thirteen (African-American male, age 20, Montgomery, AL) International Dialects of English Archive: Illinois Four (African-American female, age 23, theater student) International Dialects of English Archive: Kentucky Four (African-American female age 19, Paducah, KY) International Dialects of English Archive: Louisiana One A (African-American male, born 1972, New Orleans, LA) International Dialects of English Archive: Louisiana Two (African-American female, born 1985, New Orleans, LA) International Dialects of English Archive: Louisiana Three (African-American female, born 1985, New Orleans, LA) International Dialects of English Archive: Michigan Nine (African-American male, born 1984, Detroit, MI, student) International Dialects of English Archive: Mississippi Three (African-American male, sixties, Grenada, MS) International Dialects of English Archive: North Carolina Five (African-American male, 30s, Winston-Salem, NC) International Dialects of English Archive: South Carolina Four (African-American female, born 1986, Florence, SC) International Dialects of English Archive: Texas Seventeen (African-American male, raised in Texas)	http://www.dialectsarchive.com/alabama-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/alabama-9 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/alabama-13 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/illinois-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/kentucky-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/Louisiana-1a http://www.dialectsarchive.com/louisiana-2 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/louisiana-3 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/michigan-9 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/mississippi-3 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/north-carolina-5 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/north-carolina-4 http://www.dialectsarchive.com/texas-17

Discussion questions

1. Listen to the samples of Standard American English* and Standard British English* from the International Dialects of English Archive. Do these examples match up with your expectations of what Standard American and British English sound like? Do you hear speech that sounds like any of these samples where you live?

2. Review the discussion of Dennis Preston’s (1989) research on standard language ideology in Chapter 4. Then, listen to the speech samples from around the country (Indiana*, Mid-Atlantic states*, New England*, Colorado*, West Coast*, Michigan*, Minnesota*, Wisconsin*, Ohio*, Pennsylvania*, Maryland*, Delaware*, Washington, DC*, and New York City*) from the International Dialects of English Archive and the Speech Accent Archive. How would each of these samples rank in your list of the areas where the “most correct” English is spoken? How does your list compare to Preston’s findings?

3. Chapter 4 provides this definition of the word accent from the Oxford English Dictionary (1989):

[Accent is] the mode of utterance peculiar to an individual, locality, or nation, as “he has a slight accent, a strong provincial accent, an indisputably Irish, Scotch, American, French or German accent.”...This utterance consists mainly in a prevailing quality of tone, or in a peculiar alteration of pitch, but may include mispronunciation of vowels or consonants, misplacing of stress, and misinflection of a sentence. The locality of a speaker is generally clearly marked by this kind of accent.

This definition describes accents as being connected to “mispronunciations, misplacing of stress, and misinflection of sentences.” Listen to the samples of Irish*, Scotch*, American*, French*, and German* accents from the International Dialects of English Archive. Do you hear anything that you would describe as a mispronunciation, misplacing of stress, or misinflection of a sentence? If so, provide some examples, If not, why not?

4. Chapter 4 also provides the following anecdote from an article examining attitudes about African American English:

I was once lectured by a retired airline pilot at a wedding reception on the difference between African American English and Ebonics; he held that the former was a “legitimate language” and the latter was “that horrible slang you hear on cable TV” (Sclafani 2008: 508).

Listen to some of the clips of African American English* from the International Dialects of English Archive. From what you hear in these samples and what you have learned so far in this class, how would you respond to the airline pilot’s comment?

Videos

‘OMG,’ ‘LOL’ Added to OED
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/omg-lol-symbol-muffin-top-added-oxford-english-13221130

This video provides material for discussion of the authority of the dictionary.

Discussion question

1. The reporter in this clip states that OMG, LOL, muffintop, and the heart symbol have been “given literary legitimacy” by being included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Why do you think this story made it on national news? What does this story tell you about common language ideologies in America?

Further Resources

Crowley, T. (2003) Standard American English and the Politics of Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Milroy, L. (2000) Britain and the United States: Two Nations Divided by the Same Language (and Different Language Ideologies). Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 10(1): 56–89.

Pinker, S. (1994) Grammar Puss. The New Republic, January 24.

Images

A sign with Uncle Sam saying “I want YOU to speak proper English.”
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001742583/4613637223_4d9bec407a40d499130910_
3e6f138618_answer_2_xlarge.jpeg

Links

The Speak Good English Movement in Singapore: http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/

RSS & Blogs

The Language Maven’s Nest: http://mavensays.blogspot.com/
Language Log: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/