[lg policy] book review: English with an Accent

Fri Aug 17 14:48:12 UTC 2012

English with an Accent

Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/23/23-812.html

AUTHOR: Rosina W. Lippi-Green
TITLE: English with an Accent
SUBTITLE: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States
PUBLISHER: Routledge
YEAR: 2011

Ava Becker, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

INTRODUCTION
Rosina Lippi-Green has gone to great lengths to update and expand upon the
argument she first presented in the 1997 edition of English with an Accent
(EWA). In the preface to the current edition, she remarks that between 1999
and
2010 she added over 800 sources to the online bibliography associated with
this
work, ranging from academic monographs to legal reports and government
documents
(p. xxii). Consequently, "pretty much every sentence in EWA had to be
rewritten,
every source checked, reevaluated, replaced or brought up to date, and
every
conclusion challenged" (p. xxii); the fruits of her labour are self-evident
whether you are about to read this book for the first time, or enjoy it
again,
as I did.

Indeed, one of the strengths of this book is the depth and breadth of her
engagement with sources; the inclusion of casual observations, for
instance,
provides a progressive response to Choi and Nunan's question regarding what
can
be considered "legitimate data" in research (2010, p. 1). Through incessant
waves of questions interspersed with illustrations from academia,
advertising,
pedagogical documents, popular culture and media, and even fragments of
conversations she has overheard or on-line forums she has read, Lippi-Green
exposes our carefully-guarded truths about language. Her intention seems to
be
to dismantle the standard language ideology (SLI) that no one's upbringing
is
free from, and to cultivate its popular deconstruction through careful
study and
daily awareness.

This book's insights on the social repercussions of SLI and accent
discrimination makes it both intriguing and upsetting to read at times.
Lippi-Green challenges everyone, from the general reader to the seasoned
language activist, to be objective about language in order to begin
distinguishing between our "common sense" beliefs about language and
linguistic
facts. The reason for this, she argues, is that the beliefs about accent
and
language that we have accepted as truths reinforce and justify social
inequalities, and that to determine privilege not "on the basis of what
[people]
have to say, but how they say it" (p. xx), is simply wrong.

SUMMARY
Recognizing the pervasiveness of language myths and the power of standard
language ideologies, Lippi-Green takes her time (Chapters 1-6) in peeling
back
the conceptual layers that underlie these myths and ideologies, appealing
to our
lived experience by drawing on personal experience and incorporating
examples
from American popular culture. In Chapter 1, she sums up "The linguistic
facts
of life" that are relevant to the book's argument. These include: All
spoken
language changes over time; all spoken languages are equal in terms of
linguistic potential; grammaticality and communicative effectiveness are
distinct and independent issues; written language and spoken language are
fundamentally different; variation is intrinsic to all spoken language, and
is
mostly symbolic (adapted from pp. 6-7). Other linguists have worked to
dispel
language myths for a non-linguist readership (see Bauer & Trudgill, 1998),
but
EWA goes one step further by foregrounding these myths in the broader
framework
of social inequality.

Chapter 2 (Language in motion) spills over from the final myth addressed in
Chapter 1 regarding regional variation. Also by way of a concise and
relevant
introduction to the subsequent chapters, Lippi-Green focuses on four
well-known
cases of variation in the US: the presence or absence of (r) in syllable
codas;
the Northern Cities Chain Shift; lexical variation and discourse markers;
weak
and strong verbs (p. 27). Her point in this chapter is to dispel the myth
that
American dialects are disappearing, and to begin introducing the interplay
of
social and linguistic factors. After establishing that variation is
inherent in
spoken language, she asks why some labels (i.e., substandard) are applied
to
different varieties and what the implications might be of such labeling. A
strength of this chapter is that it assumes no background in linguistics,
spelling out IPA where necessary and succinctly integrating the methods and
results of seminal studies (i.e., Labov, 1962).

After these two foundational chapters, Lippi-Green dives into "The myth of
non-accent" (Chapter 3) in which she begins to directly address the issue
of
accent promised in the book's title. She begins by examining the function
of
myth for its power to influence the behaviour of people, and to explain why
it
is reasonable to call the notion of "standard language" a myth. It is
important
to establish the concept of myth in this chapter because in Chapters four
and
five, she moves directly into the conceptual core of the book: SLI. A
highlight
of this chapter is the Sound House analogy that Lippi-Green has devised to
explain how our accents are developed, abandoned, and adopted as we move
through
childhood and adolescence. The analogy traces the hypothetical
protagonist's
phonological development from birth to age 20, using architectural
metaphors to
describe how she attempts to "renovate" her Sound House (or native tongue
phonology) in order to liken or distinguish her Sound House from those of
her
family members, friends, and other-language speakers whose Sound Houses she
would like the blueprints for. Lippi-Green maintains that it is natural for
our
accents (in all of our languages) to change over time, but it is important
to
recognize the power of myth and ideology in these changes.

In Chapter 4 (The standard language myth), Lippi-Green puts The Dictionary
under
the microscope as she explores the question of who decides what is
"standard".
This chapter expands upon the notion of myth by deconstructing the myth of
a
standard variety of a language, and by pointing out who exploits and
benefits
from it. She concedes that it may be necessary to have a "standard" -- even
one
determined by an elite group -- but warns, "there is nothing objective
about
this practice" (p. 58). I found her decision to bring the dictionary to the
analytical forefront here appealing, because the dictionary is probably the
most
commonly and widely consulted authority in quotidian debates about
language, and
as such inductively brings our attention to the propagation of SLI in our
daily
lives.

By Chapter 5 (Language subordination) we are sufficiently prepared to begin
exploring the conceptual heart of Lippi-Green's work here, which concerns
the
"language subordination process" (p. 69), or how people are oppressed and
excluded via standard language ideologies. One of the most intriguing
questions
she raises in this chapter is not whether people subscribe to standard
language
ideologies, because it has already been established that we all do to a
certain
extent. Rather, she poses the more difficult question of how language
subordination works, and offers "The language subordination model" (p. 70)
as an
analytical tool to probe how SLIs are disseminated and why people accept
the
inferior or stigmatized social positions that consenting to a SLI grants
them.
The model includes the following processes: language is mystified;
authority is
claimed; misinformation is generated; targeted languages are trivialized;
conformers are held up as positive examples; non-conformers are vilified or
marginalized; explicit promises are made; threats are made (p. 70);
examples of
each of these are presented in varying detail throughout the remainder of
the
book. This chapter builds on the previous ones by discussing what the
social
implications are of asking people to speak a certain language, or with a
certain
accent.

While Lippi-Green concedes that we still do not know exactly how language
subordination works or why, in Chapter 6, "The educational system: fixing
the
message in stone", she offers that school is the place where SLI is first
introduced and enforced, even by the most well-intentioned teachers. She
demonstrates the disconnect between policy and practice by arguing that
even
though policies to recognize linguistic diversity have been in place since
the
1970s, very little has been done to implement these.

In Chapters 7-17, Lippi-Green gives several examples of how language
subordination has affected and continues to negatively affect speakers of
different languages and varieties of English in the United States. Most, if
not
all of the chapters subsequent to Chapter 6, feature English speakers from
diverse regions of the US (i.e.: Chapters 7, 8, 11, 12) and language
backgrounds
(i.e.: Chapters 7, 9, 14, 15, 17) and discuss how the SLI in each of their
cases
has direct implications for authenticity, real and imagined belonging, and
access to opportunity in the American context. Chapter 11, for instance, is
about linguistic perceptions of and by speakers in "the Southern Trough".
In
this chapter, she explores issues of accent reduction, identity,
resistance, and
the trivialization of southern varieties of English and their speakers.
Here,
Lippi-Green argues that assimilation via accent reduction is commonly
perceived
to be the price of success in America (see also Chapters 9 and 12 for
example).
Similarly, Chapter 10's focus on AAVE (African American Vernacular
English), or
"Black language" (p.182) argues that the issues surrounding this variety of
US
English are historically rooted in questions of defining who gets to be an
authentic American. This chapter includes a short overview of AAVE grammar,
some
of the main controversies surrounding it, and opposing viewpoints from the
Anglo
and African American communities towards it. Later, in Chapter 16, she
zooms in
on a case study of the Oakland Ebonics Controversy in Oakland, California
in the
1990s, providing a more intimate look at some of the tangible repercussions
of
SLI in the African American community. Chapters 14 and 15 are new to the
second
edition and focus on the varieties of English spoken by two major ethnic
minorities in the US: Latinos and Asian Americans, respectively.

For the second edition of EWA, Lippi-Green has added 14 more films to her
analysis of how SLI is manipulated in Disney films (Chapter 7). This
chapter
shows how there is nothing innocuous about cartoons -- indeed, via accents
and
racial stereotyping, cultures are trivialized and characters that speak
with
"standard" varieties of English (or, "conformers" to the SLI) are praised
by
being consistently represented as "the good guy". Thus, by watching Disney
films, children are socialized into certain prejudices. The Disney example
is
useful because it provides a very clear illustration of how linguistic and
non-linguistic features such as race are often inseparable; Chapter 17's
discussion of linguistic profiling is another such example, although issues
of
race arise regularly throughout the book.

In Chapter 8, Lippi-Green examines how political figures are presented by
the
media, and how commentary about the way politicians speak (rather than what
they
are saying) has a powerful effect on public perception of them. Chapter 9
also
demonstrates how language subordination works, but this time at the
intersection
of the workplace and the legal system. This chapter features dozens of
real-world examples to illustrate how difficult it is to prosecute
employers
when there has been language discrimination in the workplace, even where
policies are in place to protect people from it (also see Chapter 17 for a
similar argument in the context of housing).

Lippi-Green concludes (Chapter 18) by bringing us back to her original
position:
"language subordination is not about relative standards and preferences
[i.e.
aesthetics] in the way a language is used" (p. 335), it is about the fact
that
adherence to an exclusive SLI effectively silences those who do not speak a
standard variety because we judge them based on the quality rather than the
content of their speech.

EVALUATION
This second edition boasts a diversity of discussion questions, further
reading
and classroom exercises that are relevant to a range of life experiences
and
scholarly disciplines. A companion site symbol appears at intervals
throughout
the text directing readers to the new companion website that has an
interactive
bibliography, sound clips, images and video to complement the reading.

EWA can be used in many ways. Because it is written in a clear and rather
narrative style, people from a wide range of backgrounds will find the
material
accessible. Although it was written for a general audience, Lippi-Green
does not
sacrifice complexity for accessibility. The range of issues covered in each
chapter provides fuel for debate in graduate and undergraduate classes
alike, in
disciplines spanning the social sciences, education, and even law --
regardless
of students' interest in language specifically.

The first few chapters especially make excellent complementary reading for
beginners in linguistics, because they present well-known studies and key
concepts in a practical and engaging way, as well as providing a bit of an
orientation to different branches of linguistics (p. 40).

Lippi-Green's argument is firmly rooted in the American context, which I
see as
a strength and not a shortcoming. The questions she raises, however, can
and
should be raised in any country or manner of social organization. Also, in
EWA
the school is presented as the child's first exposure to SLI (p.73), but I
felt
that this ignores the ideological socializing function of the child's
caregivers. The home domain -- where the child builds their first Sound
House --
is not ideologically neutral territory and deserves a closer look. Another
point
concerns the processes identified in the language subordination model;
these are
multifarious and raise many more questions than a single monograph is able
to
address. But I wondered, for example, whether comments like "that accent is
so
cute" are inherently trivializing, or at what point they become so.

As Lippi-Green points out at the very outset (p. ix), the notions of
language
subordination and SLI are quite controversial. Indeed, as much as I agree
with
the central premise of EWA, my own SLI indoctrination prohibits me from
fully
grasping or possibly concurring with some of its finer points at the
present
time. Lippi-Green is ultimately calling for a paradigm shift in the way we
think
about language, and more importantly, in the way we think about and behave
towards each other, which is at best a profoundly uncomfortable proposition
for
many; as EWA makes clear, SLI is so deeply ingrained that even human rights
activists and advocates of language equality inadvertently promote it. As
with
the first edition, EWA is difficult to put down, and the issues it raises
are
even more difficult to stop talking about.

REFERENCES
Bauer, L., & Trudgill, P. (1998). Language myths. London: Penguin Books.

Labov, W. (1962). The Social History of a Sound Change on the Island of
Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts. New York: Columbia.

Nunan, D., & Choi, J. (2010). Language, Culture, and Identity: Framing the
Issues. In D. Nunan and J. Choi (Eds.), Language and culture: Reflective
narratives and the emergence of identity. New York: Routledge. Pp. 1-13.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Ava Becker holds an honors degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies and
is currently finishing her Master's degree in Applied Linguistics at the
University of Alberta, Canada. Her current research interests include
Spanish heritage language development (HLD) in Canada, HLD in refugee
communities, HLD and multilingualism, and discourse analysis. She hopes to
explore some of the findings from her Master's research in a PhD program.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/23/23-3439.html

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