In “The social weight of spoken words,” one sentence that I found particularly interesting was: “this memory difference is found even among listeners who themselves speak the stigmatized dialect.” I found this sentence interesting because it made me pause and think about last week’s AAVE reading. In last week’s reading the author discussed a reading program that uses textbooks in AAVE to teach students who use that dialect. I imagine that this would be a good idea and would help students in the program grow. However, this sentence might make one believe that students who speak AAVE would remember and process text better that is of an idealized form. I still don’t think this is true. I think the memory difference is a result of exposure to stigmatization against AAVE over a course of a lifetime. I think that a child who speaks AAVE would have a better memory for AAVE than a prestigious accent. On the other hand, I think an adult who speaks AAVE would have a better memory for a prestigious accent as a result of life experience and realizing that the prestigious accent is of an idealized form.
I really enjoyed the article about Condoleezza Rice. In particular I enjoyed how a focus group participant said that Rice’s enunciation helps “raise herself up.” Moreover, I agreed strongly with the notion that Standard African American English should be studied more, especially because like the author says: “African Americans continue to play an increasingly important role in the political realm.” I think studying this dialect would be a good way to “give back” in a way that the author from last week’s AAVE reading would appreciate. It would help put forth a professional African American identity in the linguistic field.
I also was intrigued by the idea that Rice's enunciation helps "raise herself up," and how we associate conforming to GA English with "bettering oneself." It makes me think about how Michelle Obama has recently been celebrated for her powerful speeches, and I wonder (although not really because it's not too difficult to imagine....) what public perception would be if she spoke AAVE instead...
ReplyDeleteI also was really interested in the author saying that Standard African American English should be studied more because more African Americans are playing increasingly important roles in the political realm. I think it's important when studying speech of African Americans in politics that linguists pay attention not only to how those figures speak in official political meetings but also when speaking with communities of color. For example, as Martine mentioned, Michelle Obama is celebrated for her powerful speeches in which she does not speak AAVE. However, if you watch videos of her with smaller audiences of color, you can hear her slip into more of an AAVE speaking style. Having African American linguists studying these differences would therefore really help in terms of understanding those language dynamics.
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