LL-L: "Pronunciation" LOWLANDS-L, 17.SEP.2000 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 17.SEP.2000 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: John M. Tait [jmtait at altavista.net]
Subject: LL-L: "Pronunciation" LOWLANDS-L, 10.SEP.2000 (03) [E]

John Feather wrote:

 My point was that a quirky news item about something slightly
>daft
>said by an academic was just as likely to turn up in these papers with no
>aim of stirring up ethnic or linguistic prejudices, and it is therefore
>unreasonable to assume that this is the only reason why a paper would run
>this story.

Exactly my point. The papers are not trying to stir up any kind of
linguistic prejudice, because they are blissfully unaware that such a thing
exists.

>This week a number of the broadsheets reported a bizarre Italian legal
case
>
>concerning the circumstances in which adultery by a wife is a criminal
>offence. Everything seems to depend on whether the act of infidelity takes

>place during the day or overnight. I don't _think_ we were being invited
to
>
>remember the Italians' role in WWII.

This isn't the same thing. The point of the psychologist's lecture was that
Germans are perceived in a certain way because they speak a certain way. In
other words, it is referring to something intrinsic to Germans - unless
they decide to start speaking some other language - in a way that a legal
system cannot be.

I remember a study of linguistic prejudice on the old Esther Rantzen show,
where someone was maintaining that people are much better perceived, and
are more likely to get a job, if they speak RP than if they have an accent
from, say, Liverpool or Glasgow. (Conversely, I have heard of an actual
case where a Scottish employer would not employ anyone with an English
accent.) If this had been about racial or sexual discrimination it would
have been dead serious, but it was conducted in an atmosphere of smiles all
round, apparently thought to be more of a source of amusement than
anything.

John M. Tait.

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