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How has language changed over time essay
Short essay on language change
How has language changed over time essay
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Texas Twang is Changing
Although the way Lyndon Johnson and Ann Richards spoke might remind people of Texas, that accent is falling out of use. An NBC documentary was shot in Amarillo, 1962, about Laurel Robertson’s family. While the video shows how her sister’s deep Texas twang, Laurel says it is historical that she talks like that and that no one in her family is talking like that now.
While more than 10,000 people move to Texas every year, that German accent Texans are picking turns out. Lars Hinrichs, a linguistics Professor at the University of Texas, says that you do not automatically have a twang because you are from Texas anymore. He has been comparing hundreds of recordings of the way Texans spoke in 1980s with how they speak now.
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He gets some students record native Texan and read the same passage full of “I” vowels. “I've lived in Texas all my life. I was born in Titus County. And when I was 5 we moved to a farm near Whitehouse, which is southeast of Tyler.” The study shows how the traditional Texas pronunciation of the sound “I” was turned to “AH”, Hinrichs.
Not only the “AH” sound is changing, other typically Texas sounds are also fading such as “faice” for face and “gewse” for goose.
Other accents are facing some changes too. In New York City’s Lower East Side, people have their own linguistic quirks. Consider the way they would say “cooaufee” instead of coffee or “dooaug” instead of dog. A popular example from the 90s is the Saturday Night Live’s “Coffee Talk” sketch by Mike Myers. A linguist at Reed College, Kara Becker, discovered that those pronunciations are fading away, too.
Beside media and migration, Becker says “linguistic insecurity” is another reason why New Yorkers are changing their accent. Becker illustrated that they think that other people do not like their accent or they, New Yorkers, are not feeling their accent is interesting. New Yorkers consciously stop “Coffee Talk” and Texans like Robertson and her family stopped their accent on the first syllable like “SEE-ment” or “UM=brella” after they moved from Amarillo to Austin. Texas twang, however, is part of Texans and they are proud of it. Hinrichs points out, Texans use twang when it is appropriate with family or friends. He means that the twang is not going to become extinct. However, the fact that more than 1,000 new people move to Texas annually is changing the traditional old Texas
twang.
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.
Chicago’s accent situation is almost identical to those in other cities, you cannot expect everybody from New York to have a thick Brooklyn accent, and this lies true within the Windy City. As shown through the script experiment, a large percentage of people do have three of the characteristic vowel changes that distinguish the accent, but only a small minority speaks with all the vowel changes that make up the quintessential accent.
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
Wright, Katy M. “The Role of Dialect Representation in Speaking from the Margins: “The Lesson” of Toni Cade Bambara.” Style. 42.1 (2008): 73-87. Proquest. SEMO Kent Lib., Cape Girardeau, MO. 12 April 2009. .
Due to the certain accent’s stereotyping images, other “original English speaker” think they are uneducated, rude, and ignorance. TV comedy shows increased this negative image to audiences as making fun of their accent and laughed. The video introduced some words which are unfamiliar to us: cabinet is milkshake, gum band is rubber band, schlep is to carry, and pau hana means work is done. Those words and phrases are noticeable if they are native English speakers. On the other hand, I hardly notice those accents and dialects as a foreigner because I don’t have enough knowledge to judge what “standard English” is. In fact, we normally learn “standard English” in school as a foreigner, but we have a great chance to hear mixed dialects and accents everywhere because of mixed race society. Nevertheless, standard English accent is easier for me to understand. I easily distinguish and guess people’s hometown if they are foreigners by their accent. Still, it’s hard to recognize accents and dialect within states. Moreover, this video was difficult to understand because of the
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 ...
You may think you have heard it all until you come to the south. The phonetics and dialect is most basic and unconscious. Scotch-Irish, English, and Cherokee languages left distinct dialects, which made a great contribution to the heritage, vocabulary, and way of life. Departing from traditional standard English, Carolina dialects claim no cognitive validity concerning proper grammar. Equally important, speaking ideally a language that poses as English. The rhetoric, syntax, and semantics change depending on audience, geographical location, occasion, and intent of communication. There are three types of language in North Carolina, The Outer Banks dialect; spoken on the coast of North Carolina, mountain talk; concentrated in the Appalachian Mountains, and Cherokee language, which is spoken on the reservation. Each language has distinguishable attributes recognizable and well-organized characteristics.
Traditional Texas dialect began when settlers from the Eastern United States migrated, and founded modern day Texas. The settlers that discovered modern day Texas, were originally from the southeastern united states. Because of this, the settlers naturally carried with them a strong southern accent, along with country dialect. Texas dialect is a very distinct language. “In this position the vowels produced by the merger are also characterized by a strong feature of retro flexion that is simultaneous with the vocalic gesture” (Walsh 1974, pg. 42). The settlers that founded modern day Texas were highly uneducated and so they almost never used proper English. In traditional Texas dialect, it is rare for three syllables to be used. For example, words like “Italy” are traditionally pronounced “It’ly.” Language like this is unlike any other in the world. Unique dialect is what makes Texas a culture, and using language like this is considered a norm or value. As settlements in Texas began to grow, the more their dialect spread. Eventually, the native people of the region learned English from observing the language the settlers used. This caused all of the natives to speak the same way as the settlers. Texas language spread across the state, and eventually it became a normal part of Texas life. Through the years the dialect has remained almost unchanged. In modern day Texas,
In the 1920s there was a growing interest in country music, and bluegrass was one of the genres in hillbilly music that caught the attention all over the country. Known for the unique guitar sound, religious and gentle ballads, and mountain singing practices, the Carter Family is considered to be one of the great representatives of the bluegrass music in the Appalachian region. Loved by the audience all over the country, they established a “standard” sound that people would expect from bluegrass music. Taking a deeper look into the genre, almost all of the bluegrass groups are formed by solely white people. Why there were no traces of other races in the region being involved in the music? As the listener could imagine on the good old days and pretty scenery depicted in the bluegrass ballads, very little details on the lives of the people living in the present were heard from the songs. Bluegrass music is not a genre that provides listeners a genuine image of the musical and social landscape of the Appalachian region, but the commercialized music genre that is created by the white Appalachian residents for the whites in the whole United State America using newly-developed broadcast and commercial recording technology.
According to (Donnelly, 1997, para. 1), “Bahamian Dialect appears to be a dialect of English, it is actually more a creole – though it has decreolized over the years.” It is true that Bahamian English has decreolized somewhat. However, Bahamians still use their dialect on a regular basis to communicate and express themselves. There are major Lingual differences between the Bahamian and American cultures. “Bahamians use the Creole based Bahamian English language. This is the main language exercised by more than 300,000 people” (Olsen, 2008, p. 67).
Of course, when Betty Birner writes “[l]anguage will never stop changing; it will continue to respond to the needs of the people who use it” (source D) in her article, she disagrees, maintaining that so often as an individual utilizes a language based upon one’s individual experiences the dialect becomes true. She believes that as long as one can individually express themselves through the use of words, correct or not, the phrases automatically become unerring. However, the point so mentioned simply does not stand. A dialect cannot be considered correct if it fails to follow the rules of Standard English. The rules may have been set years ago; however, their necessity becomes apparent when one thinks of a language’s comprehensibility. For instance,
Texas has a rich and long history and much of it has passed through the state over the years to become a part of its folklore. This Texas folklore is part of many cultures within the state and has even filtered outside the state. The first cultural influence on Texas was from the Paleo-American Indians. When these Indians arrived they were in a bit of a culture shock when they met the Spanish in the 16th century. In the following centuries, more people began to arrive in Texas and they brought new ways of talking, believing and doing things. The Spanish and the Mexican set the patterns south of Nueces and along the Rio Grande. Anglos brought their ways of life from the British Isles to the South and Eastern part of Texas. African Americans who came to work on the plantations on the Brazos and Trinity bottoms brought songs, stories and beliefs that came with them from Africa. Germans came directly from the Old World to the Hill Country, Cajuns came from France and eventually through Louisiana and settled in Southeast Texas. The Dutch, Danes, Polish, Czechs, Norwegians who also came here brought with them their ways of life and they all became bound together to become part of Texas. By the year 2000, Texas was made up of 54.5% Anglos, 31% Hispanic, 11.4% African Americans and another 3.1% of other ethnicities.
In the memoir titled “All Over but the Shoutin’”, the informal use of language is powerful. Slang words are used to help support visualization of the typical accents from the state of Alabama, such as: ain’t,
Another hindrance of the America's urban schools is their disregard for African American Vernacular English. AAVE is not slang or broken English, but is a dialect that is prominent in urban areas and is spoken largely by bi-dialectal middle-class African Americans. It is not incorrectly spoken English, but has its own grammatical characteristics, vocabulary, and phonology. AAVE is often criticized as intrinsically deficient and socially limiting, however it has become conspicuous in urban culture and has woven itself into literature, film, and music of today. Furthermore, unfavorable views of this dialect are typically a result of ignorance of its structure. Many of those who negate the validity of AAVE have had little to no exposure to it. An overall knowledge of different languages and the progression of language over time also supports the composition of AAVE, for this dialect in actuality has many components that have been seen in many languages throughout time.
Well truly I do not think I have ever come in contact with that individual yet, because each and every person I talk to I can put on a country song that kind of meets their taste and they will surely learn to appreciate the genre. As a singer (Blake Shelton) says “everybody has a hillbilly bone deep inside no matter where you're from you just cannot hide,” that part of the song just tells me no matter what you think you are you’re really not. Pretty much kind of saying to bring out your inner self and stop pretending to be somebody you're not.