Language+and+Society+Mini+DAs

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//**Context**: These are the mini-DAs (discourse analysis) assignments that helped us "practice" for our field research project. As with my research project, I utilized language that I observed and recorded during the classes that I taught during the fall semester of 2011. Mini-DAs 1-3 present language data and context for it along with analysis of the language data. The 4th mini-DA offered me a chance to further the language data that I chose for mini-DA #3 and utilize critical discourse analysis to strengthen and further my initial analysis. //=====

**Mini-DA #1**
**Context & Data**

My second period, which consists of 17 eleventh-grade students, were in the process of getting into a circle for a round-table discussion about //Of Mice and Men// on a Monday morning**//,//** one of the novels they had for their recommended summer reading. Once we got into a circle in the classroom, I asked the students how many of them had never been involved in a round-table discussion in English before and five students raise their hands. It’s obvious that the standard to these students was that of “traditional school” – products of “the act of depositing in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor” (Freire p. 2). Because of this, I anticipated some hesitancy in responding to some of the issues and questions I had planned to bring up. Once we had established the standards of round-table discussions – I would not be a part of discussion, only a mediator; students were not allowed to interrupt each other; any disagreement with someone’s opinion needed to be civil and mature; students could bring up any issues or questions as needed during the discussion – the first conversation I had with a student began:

//Me: Does anyone have something they want to bring to this discussion first?// //Mac: About __Of Mice and Men__?// //Me: No, about the weather.// (Sarcastic tone) //Mac: Well, I was just making sure. I didn’t wanna say I thought it had awesome foreshadowing and then everybody say, “What is he **talkin’** about?”// //Me: Is that what you wanted to talk about?// //Mac: Yes, I do.// //Me: Okay, so go ahead.// //Mac: It feels nice outside. (Other students laugh.) No, just kidding. The foreshadowing really was great….//

**Analysis: What is going on here?**

Mac is probably one of my brightest students, and I found it oddly ironic that he decided to communicate with me, and in turn with the rest of the class since we were in a round-table formation, this way. [During his conversation with me, Mac was making eye contact with everyone in class and looking to them for acknowledgment.] Mac’s normal tendency during some more traditional class activities, when it requires him to answer questions that I pose to students or to comment on a topic we’re discussing, is to attempt to talk over the other students’ heads using superfluous vocabulary and making his ideas seem more complex by simply switching his social code to impress me as a teacher. However, during this interaction, he attempted to create conversation much like his other peers in the class. There were obviously some “language-external pressures” (Lippi-Green p. 25) at work here, between being in a group and interacting with a figure of authority simultaneously. Because he was in a group setting, Mac saw the inherent need to interact with his peers on different level than normal. Specifically, Mac switched his code to “establish, maintain, and reaffirm social roles within an organized society” (Lippi-Green p. 22), in this case, a society represented by an interactive classroom environment. His use of “wanna”, “awesome” and “talkin’” – language that he does not use on a consistent basis - show his subconscious attempt to not only use his spoken language as a communication tool, but one to establish his role in the classroom setting as one of an equal amongst his peers, a relationship that is not normally seen in a standard high school classroom. His use of the phonological variations of “wanna” and “talkin’” allow him to connect with his peers at the beginning of the discussion. His response to the question of whether he wanted to discuss the foreshadowing, “It feels nice outside,” begs the question if he is furthering to attempt to bridge the natural language barrier he builds in being a class leader on a consistent basis.

Looking back at the conversation, it’s apparent that Mac was attempting to create a break in some of the external language pressures the other students may have also been feeling during round-table discussion. Obviously, my sarcastic remark, “No, the weather” in response to his question may have prompted Mac to, once again, establish his role in a “non-standard” classroom as the student who can interact with the teacher during an act of “freedom of expression” (Lippi-Green p. 25) through the use of sarcasm. Mac’s sociolinguistic choice to answer “Is that what you want wanted to talk about?” later on with “It feels nice outside” creates a dependent relationship “on what difference the utterance/discursive practice evidently makes to the hearer(s) and what they do about it in the subsequent course of the interaction” (Sanders p. 3). This decision allows him to take advantage of the external language pressures he feels as a speaker in a group of his peers to create a non-standard reaction based on the external language pressures I also feel I need to maintain in the classroom environment.

**References** <span style="color: #0e0c0c; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Freire, P. (1993). Chapter 2. In //Pedagogy of the Oppressed//. New York, NY: <span style="color: #0e0c0c; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Continuum.

<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;">Sanders, R.E. (2005). “Introduction: LSI as Subject Matter and as Multidisciplinary <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Confederation.” In K. Fitch & R. Sanders (Eds.), //Handbook of Language and Social Interaction// (1-14). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mini-DA #2
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Context & Data**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">My AP students just started getting into some of the basic rhetorical concepts that are essential to their understanding of analyzing texts, specifically speaker, audience and subject (essentially the rhetorical triangle), and in order to help them start thinking about texts critically, students read Plato’s “The Myth of the Cave” in small groups as read-around sessions. During my third period class, which consists of twenty-one students, students completed the reading portion of the assignment rather quickly, so we had some extra time to devote to our round-table discussion. My students in this class are social and respectful of one another’s opinions and ideas, so I was glad to see their reactions when I said we’d be participating in “circle time” the duration of the class period. Once everyone was in the circle, one of my students initiated the following conversation with me:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Sonja: How would Plato have talked? Like, would he have, like, had an accent, like how would he sound? [Sonja’s desk is turned toward the middle of the circle, but her body is facing toward me and she is looking at me across the desks of the people sitting between her and me.]// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: He would be speaking, number one, in Greek.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//[Students giggle.]// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Sonja: Ugh. Nevermind, then.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: He actually wouldn’t have been speaking English at all.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Sonja: Really?! [Inflection in voice – sound of disbelief and surprise]// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: Yeah. English didn’t exist during Plato’s time.//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Analysis: What’s going on here?**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I was not really surprised that Sonja was one of the first students to speak up. She is one of the students I can always count on to contribute to a round-table discussion. She is intuitive and prides herself on her own intelligence. However, it was apparent that until I reassured her that her question wasn’t really as “stupid” as she assumed it was; she was worried that the expectations of a “standard” classroom were not being upheld. I’ve found that many of my students have a slight fear of group discussion involvement because its expectations are extremely different than that of a traditional classroom. Her dismissive “Nevermind, then” response to my answer indicated that she was feeling some “language-external pressures” (Lippi-Green p. 25) to perform to the expectation to be “right” instead of having her question answered with something she didn’t expect.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are also some underlying assumptions going on here on my part. As an English teacher, with students who are native speakers of English, I assume that my students know the history of English and how it was formed. However, Sonja’s question if Plato “would…have…had an accent” caught me off guard. Not only is she assuming that he would be speaking English (and perhaps that everyone speaks or has spoken English), but he would be speaking in an accent, including the prosodic and segmental features that are “distributed over geographic and/or social space” (Lippi-Green p. 42). Is it possible to have different accents in Greek? Yes. Do I think that is what she was trying to ask? No. Because the piece was //translated// into English, Sonja assumed that Plato spoke in English. Her reaction to the fact that Plato “wouldn’t have been speaking English at all” with a genuine surprise of “Really?!” gives the listener the assumption that she truly thought Plato spoke English. This raises several questions: If a text is translated into English, do students automatically believe the writer/speaker’s native language is English? Do students assume that all people speak/write English? The other assumption created by Sonja’s question is that Plato did not write – she simply asked, “How would he sound?”. This assumption is correct, but why did Sonja not ask how Plato would have written? Why just focus on his accent and not the actual language he would speak?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">But here we also touch on a myth – that AP students are always well-spoken and “pay attention to speech, and are not sloppy in terms of pronunciation or grammar” (Lippi-Green p. 58). The beginning of Sonja’s academically driven question, “How would Plato have talked?” started out as a “mainstream” creation of language. However, directly after that “standardized” question, the rest of her speech was peppered with her lexical choice of using “like” as a placeholder. Because of assumptions about this type of lexical choice, this may give a listener the appearance and assumption that she isn’t as intelligent as she is based on the stereotype of using “like” as a constant placeholder in spoken language.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">James Moffett states “the elements of discourse are a first person, a second person, and a third person; a speaker, a listener, and subject” (p. 10). Sonja, as the speaker, myself as the listener, and her question as the subject, include many different assumptions about native English speaker’s knowledge of their own language’s history as well as the assumptions about AP students in traditional public high schools.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**References** <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;">Moffett, J. (1968). //Teaching the Universe of Discourse//. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Mini-DA #3**
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Context & Data**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I had just returned from a trip to Boston, Massachusetts for a wedding, and my second period AP students were in the process of getting into a round-table circle to talk about the work that they completed while I was away. In the midst of, and while in a circle, the following conversation, which I did not expect to have at that particular time, started:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Multiple Students: So, how was your trip?// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: It was great, but I was sick most of the time.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Sam: Oh, yuck! That stinks!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: 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.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mariah: Ugh! [An obvious inflection of disgust is noted] I don’t know how you could **stand** to be around those people!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: What do you mean?// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mariah: The way they talk. It just makes me so **angry**!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: 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?// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mariah: Yes! Yes! Oh, that just drives me crazy! I **hate** it. [At this point, Mariah’s face is beet red and her body language is in defense mode.]// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mac: Yeah, they do talk kinda funny up there.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Katie: And they probably think the exact same thing about us, too.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mac: I hate the Southern accent, too. I hate how it sounds.// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Katie: Then move to Boston when you graduate…// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Mariah: That accent just makes me want to **scream**!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: 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;">//Mariah: No. I still just hate that accent. It just sounds so **stupid**!// <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Me: Mariah, 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;">//Mariah: Oh, no. **Their** way is **definitely** wrong.//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Words in bold were emphasized during the discourse event.**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Analysis: What is going on here?**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mariah is normally a pretty soft-spoken student, but also strongly believes in what she thinks is “right.” Discussions with her are normally one sided – it’s difficult for her to comprehend another person’s point of view about issues that she is passionate about, and this happens to be one of them (and one of which I was not aware). It’s interesting to see when she joins in this conversation – only after I mention that I was in “Boston” for the weekend did this part of the conversation begin to emerge. Through her expression and inflection of “ugh”, her feelings about this particular accent. I believe it’s important to note here that Marla does not have the same inflection as other students who have a “Southern” accent. Rather, she attempts to embody the “homogenous and monolithic variety of perfect English” that Lippi-Green (1997) says “does not and cannot exist” (133). I believe that it is because of this, as well as perhaps the social institution of education as well as her familial background that makes her exclude this “certain type of language and variation” because it may be “linked to social differences that make [her] uncomfortable” (121). Education is extremely important to Mariah – she prides herself in her grades and her ability to excel in her academics. This mindset may be part of the reason why she privileges MUSE over other accents – she may have been taught, molded and shaped by her teachers and social environment that there is a “correct” way to speak, and if she doesn’t speak “correctly,” than she will not be as successful or intelligent.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The language and phrases that Mariah uses to describe the Boston accent, how it makes her “so angry,” it “drives her crazy,” she “hates it,” it “makes her want to scream,” it “sounds so stupid,” that “their way is definitely wrong,” are clearly her subordinating the accent used among most Boston natives. After this conversation, I asked Mariah if she had ever been to Boston, and she told me she hadn’t. Therefore, it’s plausible that she holds a “set of (primarily false) assumptions” about language that Lippi-Green (1997) uses to explain how language subordination comes to exist (77). Because of her lack of exposure to this type of accent, an “other” in her realm of language, she sees it is “wrong” or “stupid.” The avoidance of my question of “What if I told you I used to talk a little bit like that?” begs Mariah’s own reluctance to see that she is, in fact, subordinating a variation of her own native language simply based off her own idea of what is “correct” since the Boston accent “is definitely wrong.” Gee (2009) would argue that this is a language act propelled by politics, or the “social goods are thought about, argued over, and distributed in society” (219). It is apparent that Mariah believes that her accent is “correct,” “normal,” “right,” and “the way things ought to be” (476) in relation to the Boston accent.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What is also interesting in this conversation is the rhetorical situation of the conversation. The class is situated in a circle, which invites everyone to be equal. Perhaps this is why Mariah felt as comfortable as she did in saying these things - she bought in to the sense of equality that the circle gave her. Would Mariah have expressed this idea vocally if we were in a “traditional” classroom setting where all the students were sitting in nice and neat rows? I do not believe so. The conversation naturally lent itself to bounce back to Mariah since she started it, but she also felt comfortable enough to express her disdain and “hatred” for a particular variance in English to her classmate. Surprisingly, after Mariah’s confession, Mac resounded that he also “hates the Southern accent.” Like Mariah, Mac’s inflection and accent are not as “Southern” as his classmates, but I could only wonder if Mac truly believes this. What is also interesting is Katie’s response to both of them. She replies, “…they probably think the exact same thing about us, too.” Katie is also very soft-spoken in class, but she also has a moderate Southern accent. Not only is Katie recognizing different variants in English, but she is also not privileging one over another, another piece of information that probably would not have been shared in a “traditional” classroom setting.

<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;">**Mini-DA #4**
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Context & Data**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I had just returned from a trip to Boston, Massachusetts for a wedding, and my second period AP students were in the process of getting into a round-table circle to talk about the work that they completed while I was away. In the midst of, and while in a circle, the following conversation, which I did not expect to have at that particular time, started:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Multiple Students: So, how was your trip?//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Teacher: It was great, but I was sick most of the time.//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 1: Oh, yuck! That stinks!//

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

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: Ugh! [An obvious inflection of disgust is noted] I don’t know how you could **stand** to be around those people!//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Teacher: What do you mean?//

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: The way they talk. It just makes me so **angry**!//

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

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">//Student 2: Yes! Yes! Oh, that just drives me crazy! I **hate** it. [At this point, Mariah’s face is beet red and her body language is in defense mode.]//

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

//<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; font-size: 12px;">[a1]

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

<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: Boston

<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;">Stanza 5 //

//<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;">Stanza 6

<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;">Stanza 7 //

//<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;">Stanza 8

<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;">Stanza 9 //

//<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;">**Building Task #1 – Politics**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The question that Gee (2009) asks concerning discourse analysis and the idea of politics is “what perspective on social goods is this piece of language communicating?” (p. 476). Here, Student 2 is attempting to establish the way things should be concerning language through the subordination of the native Boston accent. S2 focuses on how the Boston accent “sounds” – it is “stupid,” [a2] it makes S2 “angry,” as a speaker of another accent. S2’s insistence that the Boston accent “drives me crazy” coupled with that it “sounds stupid” make the central argument this: speakers of English that utilize the Boston accent have no power and authority in language (Lippi-Green, 1997, 61). The social goods being pushed with this type of language is the existence of “mainstream,” or Standard English. Although nowhere in the discourse does Student 2 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, 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;">This exclusion may be because it may be “linked to social differences that make [S2] uncomfortable” (Lippi-Green, 1997, 121). S2 grew up in the South, but does not speak in a Southern accent like her classmates. S2 does not have the same disdain for a Southern accent. S2 refers to people who speak with a Bostonian accent as “those people” with an emphatic tone, [a3] one that clearly indicates an attitude of disdain and authority. “Those” people are not like S2 – S2 doesn’t want to be like them because in S2’s eyes, they are “definitely wrong” in the way they speak. Even when the teacher attempts to dismantle some “myths” about language, “there is no right or wrong way to speak,” Student 2 continues to insist, “their way is definitely wrong,” inferring that any way except S2’s way, which is Standard English, is wrong.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This push of mainstream English is also apparent in S3’s portion of the conversation. S3 claims “they do kinda talk funny up there” while also maintaining a subordination of 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;">**Building Task #2 – Relationships**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Through the subordination of the Boston accent in her pushing the social good of mainstream English, S2 is attempting to establish a relationship of dominance in education and literacy over “those people” who speak with a Boston accent. Not only is S2 subordinating the Boston accent but also people who speak with that accent’s ability to communicate. S2 is unwilling to bear an equal part of the communicative burden (Lippi-Green, 1997, p. 70), and because of that, S2 “hates” the Boston accent. However, S2’s relationship is also established within the classroom as one of dominance. Like her use of “those people” to subordinate the accent, she also using it to put herself in a dominant position over anyone who speaks with a Boston accent, even the teacher who states “I used to talk a little bit like that.” S2’s response, “No I still hate that accent” pushes authority over that of the teacher who has implied and understood authority over the class. S2 also rises to authority as the teacher, as explained before, attempts to dismantle myths about one correct way to speak, that there “is no right or wrong way to speak.” S2 states that “their way is definitely wrong;” because “they” – people who speak with Boston accents – are wrong, S2 is an instant authority figure according to her privileging of mainstream English over the Boston accent. [a4]

<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;"> [a1] I’m not sure if this breaking up into two stanzas is the best, but since the information switched subjects, I figured it was a good move. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [a2] Is this an effective way to pull out information from the stanzas? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [a3] Should I elaborate a little bit more about this for the other words that are emphasized in the language? I’m not sure how much is too much and/or not enough… <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [a4] I feel like this is REALLY close in relationship to the politics. Should I pick another one to do for my project? I may need some help navigating this a little better. I feel like I’m saying the EXACT same thing!! :\