When we meet new people we are often intrigued by their appearance or their actions but, a person’s accent can express greatly of them. I have met a variety of people, some with accents and others with a hearing or a verbal disability, which made me improve my verbal communication. It has positively impacted my communication style, which refers to the way people use language, and it helps listeners understand how to interpret verbal messages” (Martin, Nakayama pg. 146), because I am now more capable of understanding their message and better help them.
We assume different accents belong to different occupations or personalities and by doing so, it can have negative repercussions. Moreover, phonology “is the study of meaning-that is, how words
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I believe media plays an important and influential role in maintaining these assumptions. Media rarely displays a person with a southern accent portraying a high professional role such as, a doctor; it is usually a cowboy or a ‘redneck.’ Syntactics “is the study of structure of a language-the rules for combining words into meaningful sentences” (Martin, Nakayama 140). According to Sounds of the South, “SAE also modifies the English auxiliary system by allowing for the use of more than one modal in a verb phrase.” Using these grammatical styles can enhance the harmful outcomes because it can be perceived as …show more content…
It wasn’t until college that I became aware of this. During my first year, my roommate, who was from Idaho, assumed I was born in a foreign country because of how I pronounced certain words and because of the slang I used. I started wondering if it was noticeable to others because it had been something I was never aware of.
Growing up, I always spoke Spanish at home and English at school and friends; however, as my parents learned English, I spoke Spanglish at home. Code switching explains that “while we might communicate in one way in one culture, we might change our communication style for another culture. People who live “on the border” between two different cultures often do this with ease” (Martin, Nakayama pg. 153). In addition, I switch the manner I speak in when I am in my Respiratory Care classes compared to home; for instance, I use medical terminology and less slang
In an experiment, around 350 Chicagoans, were recorded reading the following paragraph, titled “Too Hot for Hockey”, this script was written specifically to force readers to vocalize vowels “that reveal how closely key sounds resemble the accent's dominant traits” (Wbez). The paragraph is as follows:
When people in todays society code-switch, we enhance our character and overall roundness to ourselves. There are instances where people code-switch to communicate with others in a different language, or we change our tone with certain groups of people. Speaking multiple languages in a household, can lead to a lot of code-switching because you can have that one relative who can’t speak english, so you become a “translator” to help them with daily tasks. Even though code-switching can happen with different languages, the most common code-switching is used when speaking to different groups of people. Talking to an adult would have a different type of tone, rather than speaking to one of your friends. Code-switching is used to help strengthen
Code-switching is the switch between two or more languages or dialects, also referred to as codes, that occur when different languages coexist within the same community. I believe that code-switching is part of the everyday life for bilingual speakers in every community, which is very evident in the Hispanic communities in the United States, where code-switching is a part of their identity. When we use the term Hispanic communities we refer to a general community, as there are Hispanic communities from different parts of the Hispanic wor...
Style has been an integral component in the field of linguistics. Linguistic style refers to a person’s speaking pattern, which can include different features such as pace, pitch, intonation, syntactic patterns, etc. Styles of speech is learned, and is often influenced by location, gender, ethnicity, and age. As different cultures and sub-cultures arise, linguistic variations occur and different sociolinguistic styles come into being. Each style can index social meanings such as group membership, personal attributes or beliefs.
Many linguists define CS as “the use of two different languages or language within a single conversation or written text” (Benson, 2001). We are using the term in a much broader sense to highlight how a speaker may express themselves in conversation. For the purpose of our research we will describe the phenomenon of code-switching (CS) as “the practice of shifting languages you use or the way you express yourself in conversation” (NPR, 2013). CS expands across many cultures as there is code-switching between languages, dialects, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. There are many factors that motivate a speaker to switch from one language, dialect, style, or register to another. Depending on the situation, a speaker may CS consciously
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 ...
In Richard Lederer’s article “All American Dialects”, he states the ironic truth that “most of us are aware that large numbers of people in the U.S. speak very differently than we do.” (152) How is it that one language can have so many speech communities? It is because of the way our nation was developed. Our language is a mixture of culture and lifestyle that has diverted our English dialect, so that each region’s speech is unique. How I speak can define who I am, determine what I do, and locate exactly where I’m from in the U.S. This is the value of my, and my language’s speech communities. If one was to travel to Germany they would be constantly hearing German. What they wouldn’t notice is that each city within Germany tends to have their
America is home for thousands of cultures and languages. Most people can speak at least two different languages either because of the environment and family or simply by taking another world language class in school. One of the advantages with knowing more than one language is that code-switching becomes a part of you and it happens naturally. In “‘ I Don’t ‘Code-Switch’ to Hide my Identity. I ‘Code-Switch’ to celebrate It,”’ Vaidehi Mujumdar states that code-switching is enriching and exciting based on her personal experience. In “learning How to Code-Switching: Humbling, But Necessary,” Eric Deggans claims that code-switching is valuable and necessary in everyday lifestyle and it is lot more than just being about cultural differences. If one were to put Deggans and
Code switching can occur not only during social situations where the same language is spoken, but ethnicities may be different. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, co-author of “Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America,” and chief diversity officer at the University of Maryland argues that code switching is used for survival, stating that its roots date back to pre-antebellum slavery times. Modern examples include people of color in predominantly white cultures or women in male-dominated situations, have had to “quickly figure out ‘How do I manage?’ and read situations that ‘they weren’t set up for in the first place,’” (O’Neal). Caucasians, who may normally speak in Standard American English, can be perceived as racist if they use AAVE. This is because whites have not had to communicate using AAVE in order to survive in society, unlike African-Americans and other people of color that feel pressured to use SAE to fit into society. When Caucasian people use AAVE, it can sound forced or offensive. In contrast, African-Americans who use SAE may be perceived as more intelligent and better fitting into society if they code-switch from AAVE to SAE. Also, problems can arise in the classroom, where many young people who are competent in English and children who have not been sufficiently exposed to both languages (Pfaff). One mainstream example is trying to “sound white.” Speaking “proper,” or Standard American English, in black or ghetto areas can get you bullied (O’Neal). In contrast, sounding “black” in white places can make you feel “alienated and unheard,” (O’Neal). Rather than fulfilling a new role, code switching marks these conversational functions. In addition, code-switching research focuses usually on the code-switcher, but not how it influences the person, or persons, for whom the code switching is
...xical item in the other language. In a technical work environment, new age technology would require code switching since works like “bipear” (for beeper), “surfear” (to surf the web), and “deletear” (to delete a file), and are only known in one language. In a family environment, bilinguals can code switch to exclude monolingual children out of private conversations. Spanglish has been proven to be flexible in all communities who speak it, while still following its own unique set of rule governed patterns. Spanglish reflects an individual’s environment, family, and history. As Hispanic numbers in the United States increase, so does Spanglish and the study of this phenomena. “Corporations have discovered it. It is on television, it is in radio. Novels are being written in Spanglish. Rap, rock -- this is kind of a utopian dream or an anti-utopian dream.”(8. Stavan)
Code switching is a popular way of communication for people who fluently speak two languages. According to Carmen Fought, “code switching occurs in bilingual communities all over the world”(p. 2). Code switching happens almost effortlessly in conversation and can seem odd or entertaining to people outside of the conversation or someone who only speaks one language. What people might not understand is that people who use code switching aren 't using broken language, they are actually quite experienced. Fought also says: when two or more languages are used in a community, they tend to “influence each other”
I understand that communication styles change greatly from person to person. Recently, I have found myself caught in the mix with someone who really lacks communication skills, and could greatly benefit from a course like this one. On the flip side, I am lucky enough to deal with someone who I have personally experience great communication from. Though, I do think that everyone has their own ideas of what “good” communication is.
One of the most fascinating sociolinguistic phenomena in modern times is code-switching. This act occurs when a speaker or speakers switch from one dialect to another within a single conversation. It is similar to style-shifting, which involves a change in the level of formality between speakers. (Curzan, 266-269) The complexity of social interaction requires language users to adapt to changing needs in conversation. Typical and atypical shifts in language usage are evident in daily life. A conversation between two coworkers might be drastically different from a conversation between a manager and a supervisor. A conversation between friends who share the same two languages will likely vary from a conversation between two monolingual friends. And a letter to someone who lives only a short distance away will probably be dissimilar from a letter written to someone in a different region, country, or continent from the writer.
Language and dialects as unintelligent and not beautiful. Folk linguistics can be visible when comparing Standard English and African American language. Some individuals
Although printed American English is consistent throughout the nation, there are many distinguishable differences in the pronunciation of words in the spoken language, depending on the region of the country. Eastern New England has one of the most distinct American dialects. “The letter ‘R’ is often silent, and ‘A’ is normally pronounced ‘AH,’ so we get ‘Pahk the cah in Hahvuhd yahd’” (Delaney). Unlike Boston and additional urban pronunciations, New York City’s dialect doesn’t show much similarity to the other dialects of the area. New York City’s pronunciation is the most rejected and mocked of all the American dialects. “‘IR’ changes to ‘OI,’ but ‘OI’ becomes ‘IR,’ and ‘TH’ becomes ‘D’ as in ‘Dey sell tirlets on doity-doid street’(Dela...