Is my accent a crime?

Tue Aug 3 17:49:08 UTC 2010

I notice the dreaded "inwhich" in my last post.  Rest assured that was a
spacing error. Not a spacey error.

JL

On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 10:24 AM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Is my accent a crime?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> By "accent" in these posts is taken to mean "foreign accent" from another
> language as a first language.  It doesn't mean dialect, I assume.  But I've
> heard some dialects (of English) in USA and UK that I could not understand.
>
> One would assume that a teacher native to English would develop a good
> speaking "accent" for teaching English anywhere at least in their native
> country.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
>
>
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > Subject: Re: Is my accent a crime?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Adding to the problem is the loose way inwhich nonspecialists, including
> > bureaucrats, the indignant, and the media, use terms like "grammar" and
> > "accent." As Demien and others observe, these may or may not be
> > problematic. Language competence and effective teaching are the bottom
> > line.
> >
> > It all depends on individual cases, and from what I can gather, the
> Arizona
> > D of E is looking at cases individually.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 5:50 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > Poster: Damien Hall
> > > Subject: Is my accent a crime?
> > >
> > >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Bill Mullins said:
> > >
> > > > > Yet what is an accent?
> > >
> > > > If the original author doesn't know the answer to this question, then
> > > > there are probably multiple reasons he/she shouldn't be teaching
> > > > English.
> > >
> > > On one level, fair enough; but, on another, this is actually a very
> good
> > > question and one which might have real consequences.
> > >
> > > The level on which Bill's comment is fair comment is probably that of
> the
> > > language teacher him/herself: someone who hasn't investigated folk
> > > linguistics in any detail, and takes 'accent' as meaning roughly 'mode
> of
> > > speech which is identifiably non-native / not from around here'. For
> most
> > > people who've never looked into folk linguistics, this may therefore
> > > include any or all of phonology, phonetics, (morpho-)syntax, the
> lexicon,
> > > pragmatics, and possibly other modules of linguistics too. If a teacher
> of
> > > English as a foreign language can't tell when someone is 'getting it
> wrong'
> > > in any of these modes, then they probably _shouldn't_ be a language
> > > teacher.
> > >
> > > The level on which this is a good question, though, is the one which
> maybe
> > > _has_ looked at some folk linguistics and does decompose these cues to
> > > 'foreignness': the point of view of the academic linguist (the
> phonologist
> > > and phonetician in particular), who probably uses 'accent' to refer
> only to
> > > phonology and phonetics and would use another term for cues to
> > > 'foreignness' in the other modules. (When I say 'foreignness' here I'm
> just
> > > using it as a shorthand for any of the ways in which a speaker can
> > > recognise that someone else speaks differently, whether they're
> actually
> > > foreign, or simply from another part of the country, or whatever.) From
> the
> > > point of view of this linguist, 'What is an accent' is a question
> worthy of
> > > serious investigation. This serious investigation could have real
> > > consequences for people who (rightfully) use the term 'accent' in its
> wider
> > > 'speaking differently' sense. if we are able to pin down exactly what a
> > > person means in a given case when they say that so-and-so 'has an
> accent',
> > > we may be able to be more precise in areas where it matters (the law
> being
> > > one of them), and we may be able to give more targeted help where it is
> > > required. For example (and this example is constructed), someone whose
> > > 'accent' in the ear of a native speaker relates mainly to phonology may
> > > indeed be almost unintelligible to that native speaker, because the
> words
> > > being said cannot be recognised. On the other hand, someone whose
> phonology
> > > is closer to the native speaker's phonology, but whose syntax is
> noticeably
> > > foreign-influenced, may be more intelligible to the native speaker. The
> > > incompatibility of phonologies is possibly more likely to occur between
> > > English-speakers and native speakers of a Romance language (Spanish, of
> > > course, in the Arizona case); the syntactic incompatibility is possibly
> > > more likely to occur between English-speakers and native speakers of
> > > another Germanic language, for example. In theory, these could be two
> very
> > > different kinds of 'accent', and yet both of them might simply be
> referred
> > > to as 'having an accent'. (I grant that it is unlikely that the
> Germanic
> > > speaker would have Germanic syntax and absolutely no trace of Germanic
> > > phonology, but, for the sake of an example, this will stand here.)
> > >
> > > In any case, hence the question: in general terms, what is an accent?
> The
> > > question may be easy to answer in specific cases, but it is not easy
> (is it
> > > possible?) to arrive at an all-encompassing generalisation about it.
> > >
> > > Damien
> > >
> > > --
> > > Damien Hall
> > >
> > > University of York
> > > Department of Language and Linguistic Science
> > > Heslington
> > > YORK
> > > YO10 5DD
> > > UK
> > >
> > > Tel. (office) +44 (0)1904 432665
> > > (mobile) +44 (0)771 853 5634
> > > Fax +44 (0)1904 432673
> > >
> > > http://www.york.ac.uk/res/aiseb
> > >
> > > http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/lang/people/pages/hall.htm
> > >
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