Success vs translingualism : Is there a choice?
Shortened Overview
From my research, it seems that “trans-accentism”
may be hard to accomplish in a society that seems to value one accent more than
another. Many young people seem hesitant to try or use certain accents for
greater success in employment, better reputation, or to avoid humiliation. On
the other hand, it should be brought up that “translingualism” does have its
benefits. It helps students learn languages quicker, it brings more
appreciation for different cultures, and individuals will open up to different
perspectives. These positive effects in language, however, do not seem to be
happening for accents. The sources give their own individual reasons and
speculations behind this phenomenon.
Source #1
In the The (London) Times from August 1995, Paul Coggle (click here), a senior lecturer at the University of Kent, writes an article titled “Some Regional Accents Spell Social Death”. As its title suggests, it mentions how cosmopolitan accents are becoming more centralized as the basis of intellectual communication while rural accents are looked down upon because they are “’harsh’, ‘ugly’, or ‘common’”.[1] In America, rural accents can be anything from the southern accent to the New Yorker accent. Although these accents should mean nothing more than “eye colour or shoe size”, the intrinsic ugliness of certain accents can take away opportunities from people.[2] Coggle focuses on the fact that the young generation of London is trying harder to fit into accents that are “turn-ons” for others while also maintaining accents that will help them in the job market.[3]
[1] Coggle, 1 [2] Coggle, 3 [3] Coggle, 5 |
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Source #2
In the book Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance by Shilpa Dave (click here), the author goes onto talking about certain characters represented in American media and how their roles fit into the American persona. Dave focuses on one character in particular named Apu from the TV show “The Simpsons”. Apu is an Indian immigrant with a heavy accent who constantly fights through his status of being an American. At one point, Apu changes his accent into what a common American would speak and reverses the expectations that both the viewers and Homer Simpson had on him. His role as an Indian immigrant is used to bring racial humour into the mix of the show. Dave makes a sharp point that, “When he changes his accent, he changes his racialized position as a foreigner and noncitizen to a (differently racialized) citizen… His Indian accent may allow him to live in the United States, but it does not reward him the privelages of American Identity that include belonging to or being associated with American culture.”[1] In such ways, having a type of American accent doesn’t seem to put an individual into the same category as “American”.
[1] Dave, 2 |
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Source #3
There was a research study done titled The Effect of Non-Native Accents on the Evaluation of Applicants During an Employment Interview: The Development of a Path Model by Anne-Sophie Deprez-Sims (click here) at the Illinois Institute of Technology that shows how accents can affect employment in the work force. Looking through the Discussion section on the lab report, the general results suggested that there is a strong bias against non-native English speakers. However, examining further reasoning behind this behavior, the researchers found that people tended to choose those of the same general group. The employers assume a lot about “fit” and “attractions” towards one another and evaluates individuals based upon the similarity in accent.[1] Although, there were certain limitations in the study such as the low number of Mexican and French participants, the results should still be able to speak to some degree on the views of accents.[2]
[1] Deprez-Sims, 74 [2] Deprez-Sims, 78 |
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