another blog

Thanks to Dr. Benton for inviting me to join. I regularly check this blog which keeps me up to date on Language happenings:

http://illinois.edu/db/view/25

21 Accents

Which one sounds . . .
the most romantic?
the friendliest?
the smartest?
the least smart?

Dialect

The way someone speaks is not only reflected out loud, but it also can shape one’s writing style. The way you interpret other’s accents is also important when writing because it determines the personalities and setting of the characters in a story. It is the writer who gives voices to their characters, and the writer’s understanding of dialect strongly controls the characters. For these reasons, dialect is not only responsible for how we present ourselves, but also how we present ourselves as writers.

African American Dialect: In the News

This column by Leonard Pitts (that's Pitts in the photo at left) appeared in the Miami Herald on Monday. Thank you, Dr. Murphy, for forwarding the link.

"Reid right about skin color, dialect"

"Somebody please tell Harry Reid there are no Negroes in America. There haven't been since the late 1960s, which is when black people arrived and drove that term out of favor. The person who uses it without irony, as Reid did, paints himself as a geezer out of touch with the past 40 years, the kind of person who still calls rock music a fad.

"That said, there is little else to complain about in the quote from the Senate majority leader that has had political types hyperventilating. Said quote is from "Game Change," the new book on the 2008 presidential campaign. It has Reid, a supporter of then-candidate Barack Obama, privately suggesting the country was finally ready to elect a black man, especially one who, like Obama, is "light-skinned" and has "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

"A firestorm quickly raged, with Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele likening Reid's remarks to the gaffe that got Sen. Trent Lott in trouble eight years ago. In his online column, Journal-isms, Richard Prince wrote that panelists on the talk shows "were shocked, shocked that there is 'colorism' in America and a perceived 'Negro dialect.'... Coincidentally, there were no journalists of color in any of the discussions."

"Too bad. They might have helped frame the one question that went conspicuously unaddressed in the loud debate over what Reid said:

"Was he right?"

To find out Pitts' answer to this question, click here.

Are you a Yankee or a Rebel?

What do you think of the questions on these two quizzes (a) and (b)? Was the diagnosis accurate in your case?

After you've taken the quizzes, click here to listen to a 4-minute interview with Robert Beard, the author of the quiz, on National Public Radio.

What do you make of Dr. Beard's claim about what happens to accents once you get past Ohio?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

"Quaint Southernisms"

Check out these selections from Robert Beard's Glossary of Quaint Southernisms.

Give yourself 3 points for terms you use frequently, 2 points for terms you use occasionally, and 1 point for terms you don't use yourself but grew up hearing.

In the comments section of this post:

1) Let us know your score (optional--you don't have to if you don't want to);

2) Leave a new term or phrase typical of this region or the region where you grew up.

Do you speak American?

The "Do you speak American?" website is great place to begin discovering what the study of linguistics is all about. Explore the website (links lead to links lead to links--just keep clicking).

In the comments section of this post, report back something interesting that you have learned (or several interesting things!). Be sure to mention the part of the website where you found the information so that others may go there if they are intrigued.