Language prejudice, or basing ideas about a person based on the way that they speak, is one of the most common, most accepted form of prejudice used in the U.S. today. We see it in the movies, on the TV, on billboards and sometimes even in the news: stereotyping individuals because of a “slow” southern drawl or a “harsh” Brooklyn accent. People are stereotyped because of the image that the media conveys to the public about people who use different ways of speaking. For example, in the media, a boy with a heavy New York accent will generally be portrayed as pushy and harsh, while his friend from Georgia will be shown as a little slow, even stupid. Because of these portrayals, people from these areas who speak these dialects are being associated with these negative traits.
It’s not all negative associations, however. Some dialects, take British English, are regarded as a more formal, more standard version of the English language. Also, those from the Midwest-Standard English speaking regions of the U.S. are seen as well-educated, of middle to upper class and “the norm.”
Everyday, there are people seeing “Dialect Coaches,” for dialect reduction, or to teach them how to speak in a less marked American dialect. These people feel as though their dialect/accent has hindered them in some aspect of their life, whether personal, professional or even educational. People are feeling discriminated against in interviews because the employer connects the person to the stereotypes of their dialect. In the film American Tongues by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, a woman from Brooklyn is seeking a dialect coach because in her professional career she feels as though when she speaks, the listeners are paying more attention to the way that she speaks than what she is actually saying, which is holding her back in the workplace when she travels.
In English with an Accent, Rosina Lippi-Green shares a study done by the General Accounting Office of the U.S. Government which took a study of employers across the nation and found that 10%, or 461,000 employers “admit that they discriminated on the basis of a person’s foreign appearance or accent.” That this is such a widespread problem in our own country and that we still go on to use dialect as a satirical tool in the media and entertainment industries is incredible.
Next time when you’re watching TV, and a commercial comes on to sell you pizza, or cologne, or cars, pay attention to the use of language, even if it’s the Standard English dialect. No matter what is being used, it has been chosen for a very specific purpose: to promote their product. To prove authenticity, to separate a product with other negatively-stereotyped groups or to appeal to a particular audience, the advertising community uses language in every ad that we see and we don’t even realize the subconscious effect that is has on us.
These linguistic stereotypes, though not always valid, are very important because they are one of the first ways that we automatically classify someone that we meet. The stereotypes instantly create an idea about a person, product, and so on, when we simply hear someone speak. This can change the way that we feel about a person, product, or even an entire community.