English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States

375 Pages·1997·7.16 MB·English

by  Rosina Lippi-Green

English with an Accent
Since its initial publication, English with an Accenthas provoked debate and controversy
within classrooms through its in-depth scrutiny of American attitudes toward language.
Rosina Lippi-Green discusses the ways in which discrimination based on accent functions
to support and perpetuate social structures and unequal power relations.
This second edition has been reorganized and revised to include:
new dedicated chapters on Latino English and Asian American English
discussion questions, further reading, and suggested classroom exercises
updated examples from the classroom, the judicial system, the media, and corporate
culture
adiscussion of the long-term implications of the Ebonics debate
a brand-new companion website with an interactive bibliography, glossary of key
terms, and links to audio, video, and images relevant to each chapter’s content,
available at: www.routledge.com/cw/lippi-green.
English with an Accent is essential reading for students with interests in attitudes and
discrimination toward language.
Rosina Lippi-Greenis an independent scholar and award-winning writer of fiction. She
holds a PhD in linguistics from Princeton University, USA, and was a University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor faculty member for ten years.
“This second edition of English with an Accent exceeds the high standard of research
excellence that Lippi-Green first displayed in 1997. This new book introduces keen
insights about language, justice, discrimination, and the human condition in
America.”
John Baugh, Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts and Sciences, Washington University
in St. Louis, USA
“English with an Accent, a powerfully penned exposition on the relation between
language, subordination, and discrimination, was already insightful and thought-
provoking when it first appeared in 1997. This updated and expanded second edition
has made it absolutely invaluable, and I can’t wait to use it in my classes. It represents
sociolinguistics at its best – theoretically informed, but decidedly applied as well,
implicating race relations, immigration, social class, education, politics, immigration,
and more. It is impossible to read this book and not be troubled by prejudices and
practices that we didn’t notice or consider problematic before.”
John R. Rickford, J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities,
Stanford University, USA
“This new edition breaks new ground again, providing updates related to politics,
internet usage, and the classroom...It will be the go-to text for explorations of
language and its connection to social identity, linguistic authority, and language-
based oppression. I can’t wait to use it in my courses.”
Robin Queen, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, University of Michigan, USA
“English with an Accentis an encyclopedic, cutting-edge update of Lippi-Green’s
classic text on language subordination. Hard-hitting and thought-provoking, this is
anessential work.”
Jane H. Hill, Regents’ Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics (Emerita), University of
Arizona, USA
English with an Accent
Language, ideology, and
discrimination in the United States
Second Edition
Rosina Lippi-Green
This second edition published 2012
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
©1997,2012 Rosina Lippi-Green
The right of Rosina Lippi-Green to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1997
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lippi-Green, Rosina.
English with an accent: language, ideology and discrimination in the United States /
Rosina Lippi-Green. – 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
English language–Social aspects–United States. 2. English language–Political
aspects–United States. 3. English language–Variation–United States. 4. Speech and
social status–United States. 5. Language and culture–United States. 6. Language
policy–United States. 7. Discrimination–United States. I. Title.
PE2808.8.L57 2011
306.440973–dc23
2011024009
ISBN: 978–0–415–55910–2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–55911–9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–34880–2 (ebk)
Typeset in Janson and Akzidenz Grotesk
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
In memory of my father, Arturo Lippi, 1911–1985
who had an accent I couldn’t hear
Contents
List of figures xiii
List of tables xvii
Preface xix
Acknowledgements xxiii
Introduction: language ideology or science fiction? 1
1 The linguistic facts of life 5
All spoken language changes 7
All spoken languages are equal in linguistic terms 8
Grammaticality does not equal communicative effectiveness 10
Written language and spoken language are historically, structurally, and
functionally fundamentally different creatures 15
Variation is intrinsic to all spoken language at every level 20
Discussion questions and exercises 22
Notes 23
Suggested further reading 25
2 Language in motion 27
Changes in progress 27
r-less in Manhattan 27
The Northern Cities Chain Shift (NCCS) 33
Lexical variation 35
Variation in verb morphology: strong and weak verbs 37
Structured variation: the hidden life of language 38
Discussion questions and exercises 41
Notes 42
Suggested further reading 42
3 The myth of non-accent 44
You’ve got one too 44
Perspective 45
The Sound House 48
Discussion questions and exercises 52
VIII CONTENTS
Notes 53
Suggested further reading 54
4 The standard language myth 55
Standard (American) English 57
Words about words 61
Discussion questions and exercises 63
Notes 64
Suggested further reading 65
5 Language subordination 66
Amodel of the language subordination process 69
Rejecting the gift: the individual’s role in the communicative process 71
Discussion questions and exercises 75
Notes 76
Suggested further reading 76
6 The educational system: fixing the message in stone 78
The setting of goals 79
Appropriacy arguments 81
The results of appropriacy argumentation 85
Good enough English 86
Teacher talk 88
Summary 96
Discussion questions and exercises 97
Notes 98
Suggested further reading 99
7 Teaching children how to discriminate: (what we learn from
the Big Bad Wolf) 101
Storytellers, Inc. 101
The ubiquitous mouse 102
The wolf’s backstory 105
Talking the talk 107
Time and place 110
Disney feature films 111
Original study methodology 113
Getting the hang of Technicolor 119
Lovers and mothers 124
In short 126
Discussion questions and exercises 126
Notes 127
Suggested further reading 129
CONTENTS IX
8 The information industry 130
The voice of authority 130
Opinion, spin, propaganda 132
Bad is stronger than good 135
The 2008 presidential election 136
Discussion questions and exercises 145
Notes 146
Suggested further reading 148
9 Real people with a real language: the workplace and the
judicial system 149
The nutshell 149
The Civil Rights Act 150
The legal process 152
Discrimination in the workplace 152
Selected court cases 156
Appendix: the U.S. civil court structure 173
Discussion questions and exercises 178
Notes 178
Suggested further reading 180
10 The real trouble with Black language 182
Grammar: resistance is futile 182
Style, authenticity, and race 184
Defying the definition 186
Anglo attitudes toward AAVE 189
African American attitudes toward AAVE 196
Where we at 208
Discussion questions and exercises 209
Notes 210
Suggested further reading 212
11 Hillbillies, hicks, and Southern belles: the language rebels 214
Defining the South 214
The Southern Trough 217
Sounds like home to me 218
The map in the mind 220
Hostility with a smile 222
The seduction of accent reduction 228
Discussion questions and exercises 232
Notes 233
Suggested further reading 234
X CONTENTS
12 Defying paradise: Hawai’i 235
Hawai’ians talk 236
Hawai’ians at school 240
Talk story: “Without Pidgin, I would cease to be whole” 242
Discussion questions and exercises 244
Notes 245
Suggested further reading 246
13 The other in the mirror 248
The price of admission 248
Who has a foreign accent? 251
Discussion questions and exercises 253
Notes 254
Suggested further reading 254
14 ¡Ya basta! 255
Counting in Spanish 255
Diversity over space 255
The Spanish universe 261
The changing colors of Mexico 263
We’re not going anywhere: performing race 264
The everyday language of white racism 266
Asampling of discriminatory language-focused practices against Latinos/as 267
The most vulnerable 268
The workplace 269
Education in the Southwest 271
Hypothetically speaking 274
Summary 276
Discussion questions and exercises 277
Notes 278
Suggested further reading 279
15 The unassimilable races: what it means to be Asian 281
Institutionalized aggression 281
Half the world 282
Stereotypes 285
Mockery 291
The transmission and rationalization of racism 291
I’m sorry, I just refuse to apologize 294
In the classroom 297
False speakers of language 299
Discussion questions and exercises 300
Notes 301
Suggested further reading 302