More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of the evolution of the English language
Positive and negative effects of cultural diversity
Positive and negative effects of cultural diversity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the article " Do You Speak American?" the audience is the general American public. MacNeil purpose here is to inform the general American public of the differences of the English dialect. He does this by looking at the changed backgrounds, races, and experiences people have that can impact their specific dialect. MacNeil talks about how the words each evolving social orders, innovations, and impacts change the way English are talked and comprehended across the country. All through MacNeil's article he talks about diverse dialects found in the middle of blacks and whites, and accents that change from area to locale. In this article, McNeil converses with the assorted American population by expressing numerous examples of the change in English …show more content…
In paragraph seven through twelve, he references John Simon, an eminent theater critic, and Jesse Sheidlower, editorial manager for the Oxford English Dictionary. To give a better comprehension of Black English, MacNeil refers to specialists to advance the readers' belief in the validity of his claims, which helps influence the reader in his desired direction. Anecdotes - Throughout the paper MacNeil tells numerous anecdotes or stories. For example, in the first paragraph, MacNeil tells an anecdote about a young waitress on Columbus Avenue. When he and his wife sat in a restaurant and after come a young lady greets them with "How are you guys doing?" This helps convince the audience by showing cases of how MacNeil sees that dialect can be distinctive. Rhetorical Questions - In the fifth paragraph of this essay MacNeil ask rhetorical questions like "Is our exposure to social media wiping out regional differences and causing us all to speak the same? Is the language really in serious decline?" Including these questions in the paper helps convey consideration regarding the reason for the
Despite there being hundreds of video game releases every year, most of these games are unoriginal and therefore unplayable. There are countless video game genres, but one of the most popular genres in the past few years have been the zombie games, also called survival games. I was thoroughly convinced that all the games in this genre were clichéd and overdone, until I played the video game The Last of Us. Even though it is a survival game, the focus is not on gruesome zombies or gratuitous violence, making it already vastly different from the others. Instead, the focus is on telling a story. Between the gorgeous graphics, serene music, and flawless acting, it already goes beyond being just another “zombie game,” but this isn’t even accounting
In the article “Do You Speak American?,” Robert MacNeil is trying to reach the american public, especially those who do not have a complete understanding of the ongoing changes that are happening to the English that is spoken throughout the United States. He uses a multitude of examples to prove this very fact. For one he wants to inform the people that one reason for this change is that average people now have more influence in the way language is spoken.Which to him is a good thing. He enjoys the new evolution that American English has undertaken. He believes that it is a step in the right direction. Another, example he uses are the changes different regions and/or group of people have made on the English language. He uses the different accents and dialect to show the growth and improvement that occurred. Even though, some linguist view these changes as wrong, MacNeil views them as necessary and as something that is unique to the United States. In essence, a necessary growth that only makes the United States grow into a better country. Thus, making it more diverse.
In “Do You Speak American?” by Robert MacNeil, MacNeil uses outside sources, personal anecdotes, and familiar diction in attempts to prove that the transformation of American English is a positive outcome and should be accepted.
On May 5, 2018, Atlanta rapper Childish Gambino released a video for his new song titled “This is America.” The video featured not-so-subtle commentary on the current gun debate in the United States and began trending quickly. Many began to wonder if a song with this much political weight could make it past the viral stage and hold its own on the music charts. One of those inquiring was Chris Molanphy, a journalist for Slate.com who often writes about popular music. He makes the claim that this song is “one of the most lyrically daring [Billboard] Hot 100 No. 1 in history.” In his article, “‘This is America,’ the Video, Is a Smash. Will the Song Have Legs?,” Molanphy uses diction, ethos, and analogy to argue that Gambino’s “This is America”
Finegan says this is something “living languages must do”. For me, I was raised in a military home in which we moved to a new region every couple of years. Coming from Germany, moving to Rochester, and then to Lowville, my dialect is a combination of all three speech communities. It is different than my parents, and will mostly be passed down to my children. As I age and move locations it is opted to change again as well. So it is not that I speak differently or incorrect than the rest of my family, my speech community is merely growing and changing as it is passed generation to generation. Richard Lederer stated in his article, “We are a teeming nations within a nation, a country that is like a world.” (150) He was portraying how our country, with a universal language, can be so diverted by each region’s version of the English language. I agree completely that although we all “sing” the same song of the American language, “we talk in melodies of infinite variety.” (150) The way our country was built was by different American regions doing their own work, for example, the south had plantations, where my ancestors were small town farmers who worked with manufacturing in mills and
MacNeil, Robert, and William Cran. "Bad-Mouthing Black English." Do You Speak American? Orlando: Harcourt, 2005. 115-49. Print.
Lowe, Peter J. Texas Studies in Literature & Language; Spring2007, Vol. 49 Issue 1, p21-44, 24p Academic Search Complete Ebesco. Web. 23 July 2011
Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 5th ed. of the book. Boston: Heinle, 2004.
The documentary do you speak American hosted by Robert MacNeil is profiling of a journey across various geographical locations of the United States with a primary objective of how it is easy to define people based on their language. As revealed from the documentary, a finding far from the usual assumption that all people in the United States speak English is nothing further from the truth. The reality is that there exists is that not every citizen in the country is able to speak English and those who have the capacity of speaking it have varied versions based on their location, whom they are addressing and the social groups regarding age to which they belong. Another finding from the documentary is that there are Americans who completely cannot
The movie trailer “Rio 2”, shows a great deal of pathos, ethos, and logos. These rhetorical appeals are hidden throughout the movie trailer; however, they can be recognized if paying attention to the details and montage of the video. I am attracted to this type of movies due to the positive life messages and the innocent, but funny personifications from the characters; therefore, the following rhetorical analysis will give a brief explanation of the scenes, point out the characteristics of persuasive appeals and how people can be easily persuaded by using this technique, and my own interpretation of the message presented in the trailer.
The authors of “Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, use ethos, logos, and pathos convey their negative stance regarding trigger warnings and the effect they on education. Lukianoff and Haidt’s use of rhetorical appeal throughout the article adds to the author’s credibility and the strength of the argument against increasing the use of trigger warnings in school material. The authors, Lukianoff and Haidt, rely heavily upon the use of logos, such as relations between conflicts surrounding trigger warnings and other historical conflicts impacting student ethics. Examples of the use of these logical appeals are the relation between the Columbine Massacre and the younger generations ideology. The author goes on to mention other societal turning points such
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of several civil rights activists who were arrested in Birmingham Alabama, after protesting against racial injustices in Alabama. Dr. King wrote this letter in response to a statement titled A Call for Unity, which was published on Good Friday by eight of his fellow clergymen from Alabama. Dr. King uses his letter to eloquently refute the article. In the letter dr. king uses many vivid logos, ethos, and pathos to get his point across. Dr. King writes things in his letter that if any other person even dared to write the people would consider them crazy.
It is apparent that there are many types of dialect within American English. The coexisting of two or more languages, either serving together in the same area or servicing different areas, is as old as language itself (Pei 106). This has happened throughout time and appears to be inevitable. It is impossible to believe an entire country could conform to one language, and then only one dialect of that language. Throughout history societies have survived for some time using different languages until these language barriers tore territories apart. It is apparent how, in America, barriers between dialects separate black men from white men even more than physical conditions.
Downs, Doug. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics." Writing About Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth A. Wardle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 520-33, 581-594. Print.
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...