Hi everyone, I found the readings we had for this blog very
interesting and if you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading them!
Interesting stuff!
The article “Yorkshire
named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom” displays and explains
results of an experiment in the U.K. The victims of the experiment were shown 3
different accents in the U.K and had to judge/rate the accent in terms of
intelligence. Some of these trials were used with models and they rated the
intelligence of the model from 1-10 based on their accent. The results are
particularly surprising as the article explains that the Yorkshire accent to
most people (based on the trials) is the most intelligent sounding accent,
whilst the Brummie(Birmingham) accent came rock bottom. The article very much
relates to many things we learnt in class such as code switching, power in
language and diction. The stereotype the article focuses on, is that the
Yorkshire accent “is rated as the most intelligent sounding,” whilst the people
with the “distinctive Brummie accent were seen as stupid”. This very much
addresses the stereotypes associated with language, diction and dialect (specifically
focusing on a regional stereotype). The article also briefly touches on power
in language and indirectly brings up the question; Who gets to decide what is
right? Normally the wealthy or just a
majority of people which in this case, the majority of people (from the
testing’s) found the Brummie accent less intelligent sounding when compared to
two other accents and of course the clever Yorkshire accent. Of course the
tests were probably just a minority of people but depending on who the people
were and depending on their background, the results could have ultimately been
very different.
The average intelligence ratings
given by the study participants, out of 10, were: Yorkshire: 6.71; RP: 6.67;
silence: 5.99; and Birmingham: 5.6.
You say up,
I say Yesterday. Joan O’C Hamilton touches on a few points regarding how
and if language shapes how we think as individuals and collectively. Regarding
what we had done in class previously, we had asked 3 questions of which I
thought related the most to this reading. Do you project the same identity in
all the languages you speak? Which language would you choose to best express
complex ideas or personal experiences? What language do you think in? These three questions connect significantly
to this reading. Highlighting the second question, Hamilton indicates that the
language you learn or have when growing up has a great influence of personal
experiences or memories. “Boroditsky’s research suggests, that the mechanics of
using a language such as English…also tends to more vividly imprint that agent
in the speakers memory”.(p.464) This brings up code switching and relates back to
the bilingual poems we read and analyzed in class. For example, in one the
poems the author remembers a memory in Spanish yet she writes in English (only
code switching in a certain scenario, or to fill a conceptual gap). The reading
continues to talk about bilingual speakers, cultural evolution (“linguistic
relativity”),”relationships of time, space and gender”(p.466) , I however
thought that code switching and ways of thinking were the most important and
related the most to our class lessons.
In the excerpt Bilingual Mind:
Understanding How the Brain Speaks Two Languages, Jeffrey Kluger explains
the benefits of speaking/learning two languages, otherwise being bilingual.
Kluger explains that a bilingual speaker can often respond quicker and are
perceivably more intelligent. This allows bilingual people to code switch and
develop a different “code for
language and gesturing”(p.126). He also highlights that
relationship identities are often easier to create between bilingual people.
Most of the excerpt relates to bilingual people and cognition, especially the
affect of bilingual people on their kids. The article is more centered toward a
psychology specified audience, but does incorporate some element of code
switching and identities.
If you read until the end, I salute you! - Till next time.
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