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Are You How You Talk? |
We judge people by the way they speak and the grammar
they use.
Listen to several Americans from different regions
speak. Don’t worry too much about what they are saying,
just listen to their different speaking styles. Can you
guess where they are from?
Fran Drescher: "What’s this about? Why’s there only one
woman?”
James Earl Jones: “I feel wonderful to be back on
Broadway.”
Sarah Palin: “The difference between a hockey mom and a
pitbull? Lipstick.”
Dolly Parton: “You know, I’ll wake up sometimes from a
dream and think I’d better get up and write that down or
I’ll forget it.”
Surfer: “Dude, you got the best barrels ever dude.”
John F. Kennedy: “Not because they are easy, but because
they are hard.”
Tom Brokaw: “A moment that will live forever. You’re
seeing the destruction of the Berlin Wall.”
Wendy Williams: “How is it getting up and being there
and getting your hair fried and the eye lashes and all
that stuff.”
Rosie Perez: “I’m exhausted.”
Rhett Buetler: “Everybody kind of relates rodeo with
kind of a wild energizing experience…something that gets
out of control.”
As you listened to these different speakers, you
probably started to form ideas about them. The minute
you open your mouth, you are giving clues about
yourself—where you grew up, with whom you grew up, and
where you went to school.
Non-standard dialects
If you study English in the United States, you are
probably learning Standard American English – the kind
of English used in books, business, government and
school. But there are millions of native speakers who
have their own vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation
that is different from Standard American English.
Linguists call these non-standard dialects. Basically, a
non-standard dialect is a dialect of a language that is
not taught in school.
There are dozens of regional varieties of American
English. People disagree about what makes a distinct
dialect or accent. But it is clear that a farmer from
North Dakota does not sound like a police officer in
Boston. And a lawyer from Seattle does not sound like a
fisherman from Louisiana.
Some people look down on certain regional accents and
dialects. They might describe them as "slang,"
"ungrammatical" or "broken English." Richard Epstein is
a linguist from Rutgers University in Camden, New
Jersey. He says it is a mistake to judge people by the
way they speak.
“When we hear someone use grammar that we think of as
perhaps not standard, it’s very easy to judge them as
uneducated, and maybe they’re not too bright. But that’s
a stereotype. There are many people who speak non-standardly
who are extremely bright.”
African-American Vernacular
One of the largest non-standard dialects in the United
States is what linguists call African-American
Vernacular English, or AAVE. It is spoken by some
African-Americans, especially those living large cities.
A small number of white teenagers also speak AAVE,
Epstein says.
AAVE follows the grammar rules of Standard American
English with a few exceptions. For example, AAVE
speakers might drop the “to be” verb in the present
tense. Instead of the standard, “The coffee is cold,”
some speakers say, “The coffee cold.”
Epstein explains.
“So, of course, white folks who don’t know
African-American dialect raise their hands up in despair
and say, ‘Oh, this is ungrammatical, it’s illogical, how
can you possibly have a sentence with no verb? It
doesn’t make sense.’
"But of course it makes perfect sense. The verb ‘be’ in
the present tense doesn’t really give you any
information of any use at all. So in many languages, not
just African-American dialect, they don’t have the verb
‘be.’ Or if they don’t have it, they don’t use it.
“So the most logical language of all in our folklore is
Latin, and Latin also frequently also left out the verb
‘be’ in the present tense. … So there’s nothing
illogical or ungrammatical about saying, ‘The coffee
cold.’”
Presidential Grammar
It is common for people to change dialects for different
social situations. Someone who speaks AAVE at home might
speak Standard American English at work.
Sometimes even the rich and powerful adopt non-standard
grammar. Former president George W. Bush grew up as the
son of a senator and went to Harvard and Yale. But when
he was campaigning, he spoke like a “regular Joe,” or
someone from the working class. Listen to his speaking
style at a campaign rally in the southern state of
Alabama in 2006.
“For those of you who are stuffin’ the envelopes and
puttin’ up the signs and gettin’ on the telephones and
turnin’ people out to vote, I wanna thank you in advance
for what you gonna do for this excellent governor.”
Notice how the former president dropped the letter “g”
at the end of a word. He shortens “going to” to “gonna”
and “want to” to “wanna.”
George W. Bush was speaking with a working class
Southern accent, even though he grew up in New England.
Bush’s critics said that his informal speaking style
showed that he was not very smart. Epstein says
President Bush used non-standard grammar to his
advantage.
George W. Bush is not alone. Many politicians change
their speaking style to try to build a connection with
their audience.
Dialect and identity
Epstein says the way we speak is part of who we are. He
says not everyone who speaks a standard dialect is
intelligent. And not everyone who speaks a non-standard
dialect is uneducated.
“It’s very clear that we speak the way the people we
most cherish and love most, the way they speak. . . Our
language is a sign of who we are as much as our
religion, much more than it’s a sign of our
intelligence. There is no link between dialect and
intelligence.”
We leave you a song performed by Louis Armstrong and
Ella Fitzgerald. In the song, a man and woman disagree
about how to pronounce the words “potato” and “tomato.”
As a joke they decide to cancel their wedding or “call
the whole thing off.”
Neither, Neither,
Let's call the whole thing off!
You like potatoes
And you like "potahtoes"
You like tomatoes
And you like "tomahtoes"
Potatoes, "potahtoes"
Tomatoes,"tomahtoes"
Let’s call the whole thing off!
I’m Jill Robbins.
I'm John Russell.
Adam Brock wrote this story for VOA Learning English.
Kathleen Struck was the editor. |
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Words in This Story |
- Standard
American English – n.
The variety of the English language that is
generally used in professional communication in the
United States and taught in American schools
-
non-standard dialect –
n. not conforming in pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, etc., to the usage characteristic of and
considered acceptable by most educated native
speakers
- variety
– n. a number or
collection of different things or people
- dialect
– n. a form of a
language that is spoken in a particular area and
that uses some of its own words, grammar, and
pronunciations
- bright
– adj. smart,
intelligent
- African
American Vernacular English –
n. a variety of
American English, most commonly spoken by urban
working-class African Americans
- folklore
– n. traditional
customs, beliefs, stories, and sayings
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