Qualitites of Speech Patterns

The first Sumner article focused on the differences between semantic encoding when the resulting from differing speaker accents. Sumner states that for GA listeners, recall of spoken words uttered by a GA speaker and by a BE speaker was very similar. This is surprising to me, because I’m from Southern  California and would consider myself a GA listener, however I always have trouble understanding BE speakers. For example, watching British television shows on Netflix is always difficult for me because I miss half the words that the actors say. I’m probably in the minority of GA listeners, however this is my personal experience. On the other hand, I find it very easy to understand NYC speakers. 

I found the second Sumner article very engaging. The fact that we subconsciously draw connections between the way someone speaks and how we represent this person socially has many implications. I found it interesting that words spoken in the way that they are usually spoken are recognized faster than when spoken in the way that they aren’t usually spoken (for example, happy words spoken with happy prosody vs. sad prosody). To me, words are words, it doesn’t matter in what way they are said. However, this is apparently wrong, which is very interesting to me.

The Podesva article goes from this broad overview of this topic to an example using a specific person’s speech patterns. It focuses on Condoleezza Rice, emphasizing the fact that her specific speech comes from an intersection of many backgrounds, including the identities Southerner, Westerner, African American, Conservative, Careful, and Woman. Each of these identities corresponds to certain features that can be observed in her speech. Altogether, these features combine to create a “coherent picture of a professional African American public figure.” I found it interesting that the linguistic analysis described of her vowel production showed that she was a person that had overcome social adversity through rigorous education - there were traces of her original Southern, African American identities that could be seen but barely; they were hidden by the speech patterns of a highly educated public speaker. However, there was a distinction found between a more conversational style of speech and that used in actual public speeches. Podesva found that there was more of the Southern and African American attributes that showed through during less public speaking forms of speech. Towards the end of the paper, Podesva emphasizes the need for more attention to non-vernacular forms of African American linguistic practice, which relates to the Rickford article from last week - there has been a large amount of scholarship on AAVE, and this scholarship on African American linguistic practices is debunking the notion that the African American identity is at odds with a professional image.