Language+and+Society+Field+Research

//**Context:** Throughout the semester in Language in School & Society, we were required to turn in "mini-DAs" that helped us analyze language using ideas and methods that we had discussed throughout the semester in preparation for turning in a larger, more in-depth field research piece that challenged us to look at how language is perceived by others in terms of the context and environment in which it occurs. My field research project ended up being an analysis of a conversation that occurred in one of the classes I taught in the fall of 2011. //

__Introduction__

Growing up, I had never thought much about how people spoke, especially those people around me. I’m from a fairly small town in Upstate New York, rich with cultural diversity. Growing up, everyone around me sounded different in some way. I knew that my uncle had a different accent than I did because he lived in Atlanta and my friend’s grandfather spoke differently because he was from Italy, but I never thought anything about them being inferior than I was. When I moved to the rural South to attend college, I was immediately met with comments like, “You ain’t from ‘round here,” “You must be a Yankee since you talk so funny,” or “Where’d you come from?” This was the first time my accent had been picked out by anyone, and that made me unsettled and uncomfortable. I was all ready 900 miles from home where I didn’t know anyone, and people were already picking me out of a crowd as soon as I opened my mouth.

When I started teaching high school, the first question I got from my students was the same as that of my former college peers – “You ain’t from ‘round here, are ya?” At first, this seemed like a question that shouldn’t really matter. Why should the way I speak matter as long as they can understand me? But as I soon realized, accent was a much more influential moniker than my physical features. Rosina Lippi-Green, in her book //English with an Accent// (1997), argues language “is the most salient way we have of establishing and advertising our social identities” (p. 5). Language, specifically our accent, becomes a marker for who we are, just like our height and weight (p. 5). It is through language that we create judgments about others that we may subconsciously, or sometimes consciously create just as we would for any other character trait. My students took note that I spoke differently than they did. Because of this, their language behavior changed. I found some of my students self-correcting in front of me, or talking to me differently than they did to some of their other teachers. However, it wasn’t until this semester during this conversation with one of my junior English students that I realized why I may have been singled out like I had been.

__Context & Data__

The language data presented came from my second period, fall 2011 AP Language & Composition class. AP Language & Composition is a class offered through the College Board to expose high school English students to the rigor and demands of a freshman composition class in college through a variety of assignments, specifically reading, writing, and discussing. This class is a relatively small class of sixteen students who are full of fervor and desire. Students often enter my room with an elated “Good morning!” and a smile on most days. Because of the small number of students, the class and I had already formed a fairly strong and conducive learning environment over the beginning six weeks of the semester. Unlike many of my other classes I’ve had in the past, I wasn’t met with “Ah, man” or “This is lame” during class – instead, I was met with replies of “Let’s have circle time” or “Can we have another discussion tomorrow?” My students’ desire to learn and be excited about class has always been a refreshing change and environment compared to some of my other classes from the past. After returning from a trip to Boston, Massachusetts for a wedding at the end of September, I was not surprised that my students were elated to have a round-table discussion and efficiently and excitedly started to make our signature circle to discuss the work they had completed while I was gone. Before we started discussing their actual work, we played a little catch up. One of my students, represented as Student 2 in the following conversation, spoke up. I had Student 2 in my “Introduction to Journalism” class her freshman year (two years ago) and she was on my yearbook staff her sophomore year (last year). I’ve always known her to be a little uncensored and opinionated at times, but I had no idea of the intensity with which she felt for what we were about to have a conversation about. Any words below in bold represent emphasis in tone of voice from the speaker.

//Multiple Students: So, how was your trip?// //Teacher: It was great, but I was sick most of the time.// //Student 1: Oh, yuck! That stinks!// //Teacher: Yeah, I feel better now. Boston [pronounced Bah-sten] was pretty fun, and I went witching in Salem before the wedding with one of our friends.// //Student 2: Ugh! [An obvious inflection of disgust is noted] I don’t know how you could **stand** to be around those people!// //Teacher: What do you mean?// //Student 2: The way they talk. It just makes me so **angry**!// //Teacher: What makes it so upsetting? They way the drop their “r”’s in the middle of ends of the words or how they pronounce vowels?// //Student 2: Yes! Yes! Oh, that just drives me crazy! I **hate** it. [At this point, S2’s face is beet red and her body language is in defense mode.]// //Student 3: Yeah, they do talk kinda funny up there.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 4: And they probably think the exact same thing about us, too.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 3: I hate the Southern accent, too. I hate how it sounds.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 4: Then move to Boston when you graduate…// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: That accent just makes me want to **scream**!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Teacher: Is there a particular reason why you don’t care for it? What if I told you I used to talk a little bit like that?// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: No. I still just hate that accent. It just sounds so **stupid**!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Teacher: [Student 2], your idea of what is “normal” [indicated quotation marks with hand gesture] is relative – there is no right or wrong way to speak.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: Oh, no. **Their** way is **definitely** wrong.//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Critical Discourse Analysis__

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In order to analyze what is happening in the data above, I will be employing James Paul Gee’s ideas about discourse analysis. In his book, //Introduction to Discourse Analysis//, James Paul Gee (2007) states “the goal of discourse analysis is to render even Discourse with which we are familiar ‘strange,’ so that even if we ourselves are members of these Discourses, we can see consciously…how much effort goes into making them work” (p. 2620). By separating the language data into stanzas, it will “…help organize the thinking and social practices of sociocultural groups” (p.2484). Because all parts of language are functional, “discourse models ‘explain,’ relative to the standards of the group, why words have the various situated meanings they do” (p. 2466). Therefore, Gee will offer me a way to show the various relationships between the language and other non-language things in order to explain how a specific environmental context can lead to outcomes that may not be what was expected or desired.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 1 //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 MS: So <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 MS: how __was__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 MS: your trip //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 T: It was __great__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 T: but I was sick // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 T: most of the time // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 S1: oh <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 S1: __Yuck__ //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 S1: that __Stinks__ // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 T: yeah <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 T: I feel better //now// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6 T: Bah-sten <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">7 T: was pretty fun <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">8 T: and I went __witching__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">9 T: in Salem before the wedding <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">10 T: with one of our friends

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In his book, Introduction to Discourse Analysis, James Paul Gee (2007) discusses the building task of identities as “different ways of participating in different sorts of social groups, cultures and institutions” (p. 215). Here, the students are basing their identity on social cues that they may have learned from their environment and/or school by asking “How was your trip?” in a moderately informal way, indicating that the students are comfortable in their relationship with me. Even I respond in an informal way, I state I was “sick most of the time” but that it was also “great.” A teacher that shares his/her health status or travel adventures might seem informal in some contexts because it connotes a sense of personal relationships with students, which not all schools, teachers, or students are comfortable with or used to within a classroom setting. The exchange that happens after from a singular student of “oh yuck, that stinks” is more informal, suggesting that S1 is not only identifying with the role as a student, but also as one of an equal. The student takes into account the relationship between himself and me and makes a choice as to what type of language to use in order to perform in a certain way in order to “‘communicate effectively with a variety of audiences’” (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 109), as indicated by my casual response of “yeah, but I feel better now.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Starting in line 6 T, I am attempting to establish a sense of significance by telling what was “great” about the trip even though I was “sick most of the time.” By elaborating that “Boston” – a specific city which also has a specific accent – was “pretty fun” and that I went “witching in Salem,” I establish a relationship of disclosure to my students as a whole in the circle formation that they are in and also by elaborating on the first question that was generally answered.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 2 //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 S2: __Ugh__ // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 S2: I don’t know <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 S2: how you could <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 S2: __stand__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 S2: to be around <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6 S2: __those__ people //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">11 T: __what__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">12 T: do you // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">13 T: mean // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">7 S2: the way <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">8 S2: They talk //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">9 S2: it just makes me // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">10 S2: so __angry__ //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">S2 enters this conversation very abruptly once it is known where the teacher has been on her trip. It is only after the mention of the Boston/Salem area, specifically with the pronunciation of “Boston” as “Bah-sten” from Stanza 1 (line 6 T) that S2 makes her opinion of the Boston accent known. Her initial guttural response of “Ugh” makes it clear that she is subordinating whatever she is going to talk about – she is establishing a relationship of domination over what the teacher has just referenced. In her next segment, S2 indirectly asks the teacher how she could “stand to be around those people.” S2 grew up in the South, but does not speak in a Southern accent like her classmates. S2 refers to people who speak with a Bostonian accent as “those people,” with an emphatic tone, one that clearly indicates an attitude and identity of authority over “those” people. “Those” people are not like S2 – S2 doesn’t want to be like them because of the disdain she feels for the “others” who do not speak like her.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By asking the question “what do you mean?,” a change happened in my own thinking during this language exchange. With the conversations, reading, and work I had been doing in my Language in School and Society class for my graduate studies, I shifted from a teacher simply talking about her weekend trip informally with her students to a teacher-researcher investigating the choice in language of S2. Asking “what do you mean?” not only establishes my role again as the teacher, but also as that of inquisitor of information. I had never heard S2 react or talk about another group of people in such a negative manner. By asking S2 “what do you mean,” I publically, within the confines of our large discussion group, began to dig further into S2’s opinion of this matter to attempt to figure out where this attitude of subordination came from.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When S2 answers “the way they talk,” it has clearly become an issue of accent, perhaps because she is attemping to establish a relationship between “language and social identity” in order to construct an idea of “‘self’ and ‘other’” (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 5). Through the use of the 3rd person pronoun “they,” it is clear she does not include herself in this group of people, the group that “makes her so angry” when they speak. Through her language choice to convey that “they” make her “angry,” she “shows that every idea contains a transmuted affective attitude toward the bit of reality it refers” (Vygotsky, 1975, p. 8). S2 is bringing out thoughts and beliefs through S2’s “behavior and activity,” specifically through the activity of language (Vygotsky, 1975, p. 8). S2’s choice of adverb/adjective combination, “so angry” is also to be noted. This is clearly not just something that annoys or irritates S2, but something that touches a nerve, something for which S2 feels strongly and also feels the need to express her opinion about (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 56).

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 3 //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">14 T: what makes it <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">15 T: __So__ upsetting //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">16 T: the way // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">17 T: they drop their rs // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">18 T: in the middle or the ends // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">19 T: of the words // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">20 T: or // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">21 T: how they pronounce // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">22 T: their vowels // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">11 S2: __Yes__ //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">12 S2: __Yes__ // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">13 S2: Oh <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">14 S2: that just <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">15 S2: drives me <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">16 S2: __crazy__ //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">17 S2: I __hate__ it // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 S3: yeah //they do// //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 S3: talk kinda // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 S3: __funny__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 S3: up there // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">1 S4: and they __probably__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 S4: think the __exact__ same thing <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 S4: about us too

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When I ask S2 about the phonetic points that “makes it [the Boston accent] so upsetting,” I am attempting to understand exactly why S2 subordinates the Boston accent. By asking specific phonetic differences between a southern accent and the Boston accent, “the way they drop their ‘r’s” or “how they pronounce vowels,” I am exploring the possibility if it’s a true accent subordination issue. When S2 reacts with “Yes” twice, she is not only conveying a positive response to the two phonetic differences I asked of her, “the way they drop their ‘r’s” or “how they pronounce vowels,” but one of adamancy. Repeating “yes” twice indicates that she feels strongly about her issues with the Boston accent – it bears repeating. She claims that they phonetic differences “drive me crazy” and that S2 “hates it.” The choice of words here “crazy” and “hate” show a negative feeling toward both phonetic points made by me at the beginning of the inquiry – not only do the phonetic differences “drive [S2] crazy,” but S2 also “hate[s] it.” The use of two negative words to explain S2’s opinions of the Boston accent also indicates her strong feelings about the Boston accent. With her answer to my inquiry, she is establishing significance and meaning to the subject matter at hand.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Once the differences between a southern accent and a Boston accent are made known to the rest of the group and S2 has made the significance of the subject known, the floodgates are opened. No longer am I having an informal conversation with my students about my trip – students in the group now bashing accents. The fire has been lit. Gee (2007) posits “when a student discussion group, with no “chair,” meets around the same table, then front, back, and head all disappear…language, activity, sociocultural identities, and political relationships are different from the teaching situation with which we started” (p. 2645). Once S2 creates a relationship and significance between the subject matter and herself, students feel free to simply chime in and join the conversation since, with S2’s positive responses to my phonetic markers of the Boston accent, I am no longer the “chair” of the discourse occurring in my classroom. S3 enters the conversation and agrees, “yeah,” that “they do talk kinda funny up there.” S3 use of “they” is connotatively accusatory – “they” connotes people that do not belong to the speaker, people who are different. S3’s entry into the conversation also creates more significance to the subject by simply agreeing with S2’s declarations that people in Boston “talk kinda funny,” as exhibited by S2’s adamant positive responses to the phonetic markers of a Boston accent “the way they drop their r’s” and “how they pronounce vowels.” However, S4’s entry into the conversation attempts to create a relationship between the two accents – the fact that in the same situation, “they probably think the exact same thing about us too,” acknowledging that Bostonians may find southern accents to also “sound funny.”

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 4 //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 S3: I hate the // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 S3: __Southern__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6 S3: accent too // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">7 S3: I hate <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">8 S3: how it <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">9 S3: sounds //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 S4: then // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 S4: move to __Boston__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6 S4: when you graduate //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Since S2 established the significance of language variations, S3 now feels comfortable in establishing his opinion and relationship with others, specifically S2, in the group by stating that he “hate[s] the Southern accent too.” The language has moved from discussing the phonetic markers of a Boston accent to talking about the Southern accent and how S3 “hate[s] how it sounds.” Perhaps this is because of the context in which the language data is happening. I have already established why a Bostonian accent “sounds” different and S2 has affirmatively stated how she “hates it”; therefore, S3 can now express his opinion about how, generically, the Southern accent has different phonetic markers that S3 “hates” because of “how it sounds.”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The push of mainstream English is also apparent in S3’s portion of the conversation. He subordinates the Southern accent by claiming that he “hates the Southern accent, too.” Looking back at the language of the first accent subordination, S3 doesn’t claim to “hate” the Boston accent, but the inclusion of his second comment about the Southern accent being hated “too,” implies that S3 also “hates” the Boston accent, but maybe not as intensely as S2.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">With S4’s entry back into the conversation, S4’s solution to the relationship between the language issues and S3, not S2, is for S3 to “move to Boston” when S3 graduates. However, looking back at Stanza 4, we can see that S3 also thinks “they do talk kinda funny up there.” Therefore, S4’s declaration that S3 should “move to Boston” after graduation, is negated.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 5 //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">18 S2: That __accent__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">19 S2: just <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">20 S2: makes me <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">21 S2: want to <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">23 S2: __scream__ //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">23 T: is there a // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">24 T: __particular__ reason // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">25 T: __why__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">26 T: you don’t care for it // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">27 T: what if <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">28 T: I told you <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">29 T: that __I__ used to <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">30 T: talk a little bit <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">31 T: like that //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">24 S2: __No__ // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">25 S2: I still just <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">26 S2: __hate__ that accent <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">27 S2: it just <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">28 S2: sounds so <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">29 S2: __stupid__

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">S2’s use of the demonstrative pronoun “that” to discuss which accent, “that accent,” states which accent S2 is speaking. Again, like “those people” in stanza 3, S2 establishes her relationship with those who speak with a Boston accent as one of separation. S2 is not a part of “that accent” – it belongs to someone else. Not only does S2 show the relationship between those who speak in Boston accents and herself, S2 also claims “that accent just makes me want to scream.” Here, S2 is establishing the relationship between the Boston accent and herself as one of cause and effect. When S2 hears the Boston accent, the cause, the effect is to “want to scream.” Hearing people who speak with a Boston accent make her react in a negative manner, “scream[ing],” that is normally associated with fear or discouragement.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">S2’s insistence that the Boston accent “sounds stupid” makes the central argument this: speakers of English that utilize the Boston accent have no power and authority in language (Lippi-Green, 1997, 61). Gee (2007) would say that “social goods” are being pushed here, specifically the existence of “mainstream,” or Standard English, through S2’s choice of language. Nowhere in the language data does S2 say exactly, except a double confirmation of “yes,” “yes,” for the way the “r”s are dropped out of words and the way vowels sound (stanza 4), where the “hatred” for this accent comes from. However, it’s apparent that S2 excludes this “certain type of language and variation” (Lippi-Green, 1997, 121).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Like her use of “those people” to subordinate the accent, she is also using it to put herself in a dominant position over anyone who speaks with a Boston accent, even when I share with S2 that “I used to talk a little bit like that.” In sharing this bit about my own accent I am not only attempting to disengage some of the accent subordination going on in the group, specifically from S2, but to also regain a relationship of authority over the classroom. However, S2’s response, “No I still hate that accent” pushes her sense of authority over mine. Once again S2 establishes the significance of this subject by claiming that even if a teacher spoke in a accent that S2 “hated,” S2 would “still hate that accent.”

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stanza 6 //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">32 T: your idea of // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">33 T: what is normal is __relative__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">34 T: there is no // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">35 T: right or wrong way // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">36 T: to speak // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">30 S2: Oh __no__ //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">31 S2: __Their__ way // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">32 S2: is __definitely__ // //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">33 32: wrong //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By saying “your idea of what is normal is relative,” I am trying to overthrow her dominant thinking which has established a significance and relationship concerning language in the classroom. Using the imperative in “there is no right or wrong way to speak,” I do not offer S2 any leeway or interpretation. There is no questioning that I, as the teacher, am correct that “there is no right or wrong way to speak.” I am also attempting to dismantle the subordination going on in the language by stating that “normal is relative” and that no matter what, “there is no right or wrong way” – everyone, even Southerners and Bostonians – are correct in the way in which they speak.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">S2 establishes a relationship of dominance over “their way” as being “definitely wrong” – again – keeping herself out of those people who speak with a Boston accent. This last exclusion may be because it may be “linked to social differences that make [S2] uncomfortable” (Lippi-Green, 1997, 121), because in S2’s eyes, they are “definitely wrong” in the way they speak. Here, S2 infers that any way, except ways that she deems “correct” are “definitely wrong,” specifically Boston accents.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Conclusions__

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When this discourse started that day in my classroom, I was flabbergasted at the amount of underpinnings happening because of accent on behalf of two of my students. Although both S2 and S3 are only talking about the Boston accent, the words they choose to describe their feelings about that accent - “hate”, “crazy,” “wrong,” “stupid” – show some underpinnings of the sounds of language and the identities that they may be connecting with those sounds. S2 and S3 may be creating a “process of standardization and language subordination…with excluding only //certain types// of language and variation, those linked to social differences which make us uncomfortable” (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 121). These social differences may be marked by accent, but most likely they may be linked to the subordination of the Southern accent that many Northerners participate because they “remain very unaware of what differentiates one southern variety of English from another” (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 203) which may lead to feelings of insecurity about language.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The history of the North and the South is clear through the focus on language differences, because “to talk one way is to be something that people who talk differently are not” (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 215). Perhaps S2’s, and consequently S3’s, hatred of the Boston accent comes from a cultural creation that all Southerners are illiterate and unintelligent simply based on their accents; therefore, S2 and S3 would be projecting their own feelings of insecurity on someone who is not like them in order to resist the language subordination coming from Northerners.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Regardless of the underpinnings going on with accent, the context in which this language data occurred was one that fueled the fire of language subordination. Even my own attempts to use the knowledge and ideas that I have learned through my Language in School and Society class were failed. S2 created the significance and relationship needed to spark and fuel the first to subordinate the Boston accent around the social aspect of the group setting in which the language data took place. Would the tenor and subject matter of the original intent of the conversation changed if the context were different? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to hedge a bet that when not surrounded by peers in a equal setting made comfortable by the informal exchanges happening before, S2’s “hatred” for the Boston accent may not have come to light.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">If this language data has showed me anything, it is that language subordination is alive and well in America. Whether fueled by history, culture, or media, there aren’t many ways to stop a raging fire about language. People feel strongly about their opinions about language, and many will exploit and take advantage of a situation in order to make their adamant voices heard. However, as a teacher, it is still my job to continue to give validation to all types of accents and languages. Even if my authority is usurped by an angry student – despite my use of an imperative verb – I can still be empowered and continue to be inspired by my newfound knowledge.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__References__

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gee, J.P. (2009). //An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method.// Britain: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">T&F Books.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lippi-Green, R. (1997). //English with an Accent: Language, ideology, and// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//discrimination in the United States.// New York, NY: Routledge.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Vygotsky, L.S. (1975). //Thought and language.// Cambridge: MIT Press.