Sue,
Thank you so much for your lesson on accents in British and American English. I am sure that all the other students are as curious as me to know which accent is more acceptable or considered best in the US. In Iran, Persian, the way people from Tehran speak, is considered standard and high class. Tehranies are notorious for their making fun of all the other accents that are spoken in other Iranian cities. People who seek higher positions in the society and their jobs usually try to ease their accents. The situation is much better today, but I believe it still exists.
Does a similar situation exist in America? We rarely hear a radio or TV announcer speak with a Texan accent. Does Washington as your capital city impose any pressure because it is politically important or New York because it is the capital of the US economy? Is it true that English in the northern parts of the US is cosidered standard? Noam Chomsky says that if someone from Mars looked at us he would say, "They all speak the same language -- only with a lot of accents." That's the way English appears to us: All the huge diversity that exists in all the English speaking countries in the world boils down to just one thing: you just speak English -- except that unlike Chomsky's little green man from Mars, we are not able to distinguish a single accent.
Ali
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Devil's in the Dialect
Dialect is “the use of vocabulary that is characteristic of a particular group.” In England High English is spoken by the queen and aristocrats, and Cockney is spoken by the majority of low to middle class urban English. If you’ve seen the movie, “My Fair Lady” you will see Professor Higgins trying to teach Eliza, a flower girl, to speak “proper” English. However, go to Scotland, Ireland or Wales and you will wonder if you are speaking English or some other language.
America is no different. People from the South speak with a decided slow, mellow accent. They might say, “Yall (you all) come right on over he-ar (here), you hear?” Someone from New York would probably say, “Com’un over.” Short and to the point.
Black English is in a class by itself and it has a long and varied history. African slaves came from many different tribes in Africa and, as a consequence, had many different languages when they were brought to America. A dialect developed for this reason and also for another very important reason: Blacks could talk among themselves and whites might not know what they were saying. Many of the black spirituals (religious songs) were actually in code telling other blacks where to go to escape. They even developed a special dance called The Cake Walk which white slave owners loved to watch, not knowing it was the blacks way of making fun of white manners.
Even today, many well educated blacks speak perfect American English while at work, but with their own people they will go back to the Black Dialect. In some cases the difference is in the use of the word “Be”. In regular English one would say, I am coming or I came, or I will come. In Black English it becomes I be comin’, or I comed, or I be comin’. Present, past and future all get lumped together! This is true for those of you learning English, too. The way you use English verbs is important to learn for business English.
In America, some of us recognize a difference in dialect as only that – a difference, and yet dialect has been used to make fun of people and to teach prejudice and hatred in our country. It took me a long while to get over the prejudice in my family. For example, this song was sung to me, a white child, when I was very little:
Honeychile, stay in yo own backyard,
Don mind what dem white childs do,
What do you tink they’s gwina give
A black little coon like you.
Translation:
Honeychild, stay in your own backyard,
Don’t mind what those white children do,
What do you think they’re going to give
A black little coon (bad name for a black) like you.
Most Americans have grown up on the racial issue, but there is still some prejudice against blacks among some groups. People don’t like to admit it now, but it is there under the surface for a certain percentage of Americans. Obama is often criticized for no other reason but that it really upsets some people that the President of the United States is black. Honeychile’ get over it! We be multicultural!!
America is no different. People from the South speak with a decided slow, mellow accent. They might say, “Yall (you all) come right on over he-ar (here), you hear?” Someone from New York would probably say, “Com’un over.” Short and to the point.
Black English is in a class by itself and it has a long and varied history. African slaves came from many different tribes in Africa and, as a consequence, had many different languages when they were brought to America. A dialect developed for this reason and also for another very important reason: Blacks could talk among themselves and whites might not know what they were saying. Many of the black spirituals (religious songs) were actually in code telling other blacks where to go to escape. They even developed a special dance called The Cake Walk which white slave owners loved to watch, not knowing it was the blacks way of making fun of white manners.
Even today, many well educated blacks speak perfect American English while at work, but with their own people they will go back to the Black Dialect. In some cases the difference is in the use of the word “Be”. In regular English one would say, I am coming or I came, or I will come. In Black English it becomes I be comin’, or I comed, or I be comin’. Present, past and future all get lumped together! This is true for those of you learning English, too. The way you use English verbs is important to learn for business English.
In America, some of us recognize a difference in dialect as only that – a difference, and yet dialect has been used to make fun of people and to teach prejudice and hatred in our country. It took me a long while to get over the prejudice in my family. For example, this song was sung to me, a white child, when I was very little:
Honeychile, stay in yo own backyard,
Don mind what dem white childs do,
What do you tink they’s gwina give
A black little coon like you.
Translation:
Honeychild, stay in your own backyard,
Don’t mind what those white children do,
What do you think they’re going to give
A black little coon (bad name for a black) like you.
Most Americans have grown up on the racial issue, but there is still some prejudice against blacks among some groups. People don’t like to admit it now, but it is there under the surface for a certain percentage of Americans. Obama is often criticized for no other reason but that it really upsets some people that the President of the United States is black. Honeychile’ get over it! We be multicultural!!
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