American's Perception Of Accents Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

Accents
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Accents
Language occurs as a human social construct. One language may possess several variations, based on the region the speakers live or the social situations in which they live. People often judge these variations in the spoken language differently usually according to the common social opinion, at any given time in history.
According to Campbell (2015), Americans often have mixed feelings about accents. People either tend to view the accent as grounding, for instance, creating a feeling of authenticity in belonging to a particular group, such as being a ‘real’ Bostonian, when you speak in a Boston accent. Other people view having a defined accent on a more negative spectrum, such that, they view people who do not have an accent are educated, or speak more clearly. Campbell presents this concept as linguistic security. One achieves linguistic security when they know that their speech is ‘correct,’ that is the person uses the variety perceived to be the standard for the language users. This concept of a standard language variety rivals the occurrence of the social and regional accents. Generally, people do not speak the same way. The speech differences in a language manifest in the form of accents and dialects.
A dialect features distinct variations in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Dialects occur as mutually intelligible systematic variations in a language, usually as a result of geography or social classification. Dialects differ from accents, which feature differences in terms of pronunciation. The detection and differentiation of accents may be difficult to perform. Campbell (2015) notes the differences in opinion of the people of Ohio, regarding the state’s accents. Many people do not agree upon the various perceived differences in speech among the North, the Mid-land and South Ohio regions. Most of the differences are slight, such as the realization of the vowel ‘a’ in speech. This contrast with dialectal differences, such as the difference between American and British English, which are more pronounced.
Lieberman (2015), argues that natural human languages possess a defined set of rules, known as the universal grammar. In the defining of a pidgin and a Creole, Lieberman notes that the Pidgin is not a natural language, as it has not crystallized to conform to the requirements of the Universal Grammar. The Creole, which evolves from the Pidgin, through the children who use the Pidgin as their first language, is a natural language in all respects. The Pidgin features a highly fluid nature, which makes the grammar and vocabulary of the pidgin to change continuously, until it formalizes as a Creole. Thus, according to Lieberman (2015), a natural language contains a level of stability, such as the stability aspect differentiating the pidgin and the Creole. A d...