In my African American Studies course, I have analyzed many films as to how blacks have been portrayed in the media. As I have been reading and watching boyfriend brought to my attention that authors and movie producers often portray the villan-like or uneducated black like characters as speaking stereotypical slave-like English in things like the film Cabin in the Sky (1940) and Even the crows in Dumbo grow very suspect. Hence Jim Crow is the name of the leader of of the Crows in Dumbo.. Interesting choice Disney. The media has continued to play on Ebonics (a.k.a. African American English) and Black Music Culture for centuries. Vershawn Young in Should Writers Use They Own English argues that we should be mo flexible, mo acceptin of language diversity, language expansion, and created language usage from ourselves and from others in both formal and informal settings (65). However, It sure is hard to feel comfortable being expressive of your dialect in America when racist stereotypes are attached to dialects of speech in a racial cateogory. Vershawn Young forwarded Elaine Richardson about stereotype threats (When someone is forced in the face of racial perceptions to keep the most expressive parts of her language out of formal communication, whether writin or speakin) (Young, 64). I find this to be very true, and that if racism and stereotypes continue to exist, co-existance of dialects will continue to be difficult. One too many of my African American friend shared with me that people even discriminate against blacks when they do speak in 'standard' English, and say something similar to "wow, you are very articulant" as if it is a suprise that blacks can speak 'standard' English. How long does the African American community have to continue to 'loud-talk' this atrocity? (Loud-Talking: A Black English device where the speaker insults a authority figure loud enough so they can overhear the conversation) (Young, 70). I'm sure people heard the issues by now, but choose to ignore it. The first Youtube clip is from Disney's Dumbo from Youtube user Dumbo Lover called When I see an Elephant Fly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s35puUhqQJc The second youtube clip is from Youtube user propergandersaul who created the most racist cartoon ever compilation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sls5H4xVHys&list=PLUHTrYufBKlvM34UKPsQtakP22_1mlh1j&index=1
6 Comments
2/27/2015 01:34:51 pm
I definitely agree that while racism exists, it will be difficult for writers to use "they own English." I think that while this is an important issue in the Black community, racism and stereotyping play a role for other cultural groups as well. Different accents and dialects have a racial stereotype attached to them, making overcoming linguistic boundaries and norms difficult. I think that continuing to educate and create awareness about these issues is the only solution which unfortunately, may seem to be a slow process.
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Jalyn
2/28/2015 12:46:08 pm
I agree. I perform for Issues Troop at Emory and many other social justice groups that spread awareness... the only problem is even though we spread this awareness, it works on the group of people for a few days, then starts to wear off. Only to a very few people does this kinda stuff stick. I feel like spread of awareness has to be persistant and action needs to be taken. To eliminate stereotypes which would help eliminate langauge discrimination
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2/28/2015 07:19:19 am
Hey Jalyn, I want to echo your sentiment with a similar experience I had not too long ago. It was a very small incident, but a few months ago one of the delivery men outside the DUC [who may or may not have been an employee of Emory, not sure] asked me where the DUC was but when he said it, after saying: "where's the DUC", he felt the need to enunciate "DUC" once more, clearly slowing down his pronunciation of it, as if I didn't understand such a simple term... It really irked me because all my life I've had people come up to me and speak slowly in English and open their eyes very wide to make sure that I'm a) paying attention, and b) understanding English fluently. I was born in America and I am every bit as American as anyone else who was born in this country, yet I am still treated like [and sometimes even feel like] a foreigner at times! I was also ashamed, during my childhood, of the way my parents spoke English because [as I discussed in Blog post #2] I thought that people would think that I spoke like them. I've come to terms with how people associate my cultural identity with the language they expect me to use, and also have learned to accept the dreaded "chinese-accented English" that many Chinese people in America use. I know that it's tough to subdue these social stigmas, because in spite of how much we work and how much we accomplish, people may still see us for what we appear rather than what we are capable of. Nevertheless, I think it's important to take pride in our identities and our specific forms of English. Just like you associate with African American Vernacular English and perhaps even Japanese-accented English, I purposefully associate with myself [very proudly] with Chinese-accented English even though I don't have an accent! Just like Young suggests that we emphasize the strengths of our particular dialects and accented forms, I've realized that Chinese-accented English has its strengths. It's clear, concise, and cuts out any unnecessary information, similar to how Young describes Black English rhetoric! Even though I speak "perfect" standard English, I am not ashamed of my heritage, and I most definitely do not try to disassociate myself with Chinese people who use Chinese-accented English. I think the stigma surrounding accents is not only pervasive throughout society, but can also become an internalized form of racism, where you become ashamed of your own culture and identity and think Standard English as a superior form of communication. But it's not! I think the best thing we can do is keep using our accented forms and dialects when we can, no matter what people think, and gradually exposing others might convince them that such forms are not only equally as effective, but might also be superior forms of English than "non-accented" forms due to the strengths they possess!
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Jalyn
2/28/2015 12:41:17 pm
I definitely agree with you Jesse! The question is... how can we use our accents and dialects in public without being discriminated against? I actually experiemented with it before. Sometimes I'll just go the whole day and speak in Vernacular or in Japanese accented English. Some days I'm like "screw it, why not? I don't feel like censoring how I speak!" however, if I use this type of speech outside the ethnic group it's associated with, I am looked at so weird or It's mocked or laughed at. I love doing it with the ethnic group it is associated with however. I strongly agree it is way more affective, and it makes me feel closer to the ethnic group when I use it. I guess you have to be brave to refuse to switch and you have to be ready for those negative stereotypes. The issues here are real... I guess the question is how can we promote our accents in such a standard oriented society?
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Jalyn
2/28/2015 12:44:04 pm
My grandma, who's Japanese, used to experience the same thing. I used to get so angry and yell at people as a kid. "She's lived her 40+ years she understands you!" She also would get irritated. I hate seeing her try to correct things. I think the way she speaks is efficient and cute and appealing. A lot of my close friends do. Only people who are naive or standard oriented do not appreciate it as much. I just keep wondering how can we promote dialects. All these writers propose things like... "we should be mo flexible, mo acceptin of language diversity, language expansion, and created language usage from ourselves and from others in both formal and informal settings (Young, 65) but I wanna find answers like HOW CAN WE??
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Jesse Wang
2/28/2015 07:21:46 am
reference [from my last comment]: (Young 71)
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J.RadA college student obsessed with the magical world of linguistics. This page focuses on multi-lingualism. Categories |