accent reduction

[Alejandro Paz]

I agree with Chad that the students interviewed aren't directly quoted with
strong statements of the ideology of correctness as a display of
(self-)control and communicative efficiency. But I disagree that these
statements come exclusively from the reporter. They seem to come mostly from
two of the coaches interviewed, although clearly the reporter's "objective"
voice and that of these coaches converge at several points in both subtle
and not so subtle ways. 

First there's Mr. Loxley's voice:

Mr. Loxley said speaking English correctly allows "people to look at you
like you're a leader and your ideas count." His clients, he explained, are
"educated and brilliant people but they're having trouble making themselves
understood."
...
Mr. Loxley said that people once viewed accent reduction as "an attack on
heritage," but that is less the case now.
His clients, he said, "are very good at their jobs; they just want to be
better." 
[this ends the article]

Then there's Ms. Ravin's voice, which is a little more difficult to
describe:

Her goal, she said, is "to make people independent." [is this independent in
the sense of teaching materials, or the independence of speaking "clearly"?]

Given their present positions, the immigrant students are presumably of the
professional elites of the countries from whence they came, and therefore
it's not surprising they don't display the same kind of linguistic
insecurity with respect to the American standard as, say, the
upwardly-mobile New Yorkers cited in a similar NYT article from about 25
years ago, which Michael Silverstein takes up as one example in a piece from
CLS 35 (1999). There, the students of "accent reduction" are native New
Yorkers, trying to attain middle class status, but worried that their
non-standard "New York accent" makes them sound working class.

The interviewed immigrants of elite backgrounds in this NYT article are
certainly worried about speaking "clearly", but their professional expertise
is based on other kinds of knowledge (and they don't come from working class
backgrounds, it seems). But perhaps interactional performance can start to
get in the way of other goals. One wonders if, as they try to move up the
corporate ladder, they need to be able to mitigate their foreignness in
certain contexts. Or, speaking closer to the standard, in the terms Mr.
Loxley uses, "allows "people to look at you like you're a leader"."

If anyone wants the full citation for the Silverstein piece, here it is:
Silverstein, M. (1999). NIMBY Goes Linguistic: Conflicted 'Voicings' from
the Culture of Local Language Communities. Papers From the Regional
Meetings, Chicago Linguistic Society, 35(2), 101-123.

Alejandro
_____________________________
Alejandro Paz
PhD student
Anthropology & Linguistics
The University of Chicago 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu
[mailto:owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu] On Behalf Of Chad Douglas Nilep
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 12:41 PM
To: Kathryn Remlinger; linganth at cc.rochester.edu
Subject: Re: [Linganth] accent reduction

Certainly "accent reduction" as described by the NYT is, as Kate Remlinger
says, "a correction wolf in descriptivst sheep's clothing". 

I can't help but wonder, though, whether the disapproving attitude I sense
comes more from the reporter than the interviewees. The piece refers to
"accent reduction to improve [speech]," as well as "speaking English
correctly", "some problems", "speaking incorrectly" etc. These judgments are
not attributed directly to the coaches or actors interviewed, however. (But
one student does say "some Chinese have trouble with words with 'r' and
'l,'" and calls it a "problem".)

It seems to me that, while the reporter treats some (imagined) American
accent as "correct", the coaches recognize that what they are teaching is
just one variety of English among many, albeit one that is highly valued in
US society.

This makes me a bit optimistic about the attitudes of "accent reduction"
coaches, even if I remain pessimistic about those of NYT reporters.

Chad D. Nilep
Linguistics
University of Colorado at Boulder
Anthropology
University of Colorado at Denver


---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:38:12 -0400
>From: "Kathryn Remlinger" <remlingk at gvsu.edu>
>Subject: Re: [Linganth] accent reduction
>To: <linganth at cc.rochester.edu>, <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
>
>Both Harold's and Susan's comments about "enriched" accents makes me think
about how speakers will similarly use regional dialects in a more
characteristic, performance-type way to draw attention to their
authenticity, their identities as "real" locals. Also, the original article
raises questions about accent reduction (i.e. "correction") versus what the
article called "teaching an American accent." I wonder which American Accent
is taught? And, isn't this perspective just a correction wolf in
descriptivst sheep's clothing?
>
>Kate
>
>
>Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D.
>Associate Professor of English: Linguistics Grand Valley State 
>University Allendale, Michigan
>tel: 616-331-3122
>fax: 616-331-3430