Posted on 09/04/2015 10:29:23 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
In the idyllic setting of Warren Wilson College, many feel close to Appalachian roots.
But according to a study, some students in the South feel alienated from college because of how they speak.
"They are continuously stereotyped and seen as not being intelligent because of the way that they're speaking," says Julie Shepherd-Powell, a cultural anthropologist who teaches Appalachian studies.
North Carolina State University researchers did an in-depth study of how rural Appalachian dialect can impact the college experience. They concluded that sometimes the result is a language barrier.
"So, a lot of students, as the study indicates, do not feel [comfortable] speaking up in class or [giving] oral presentations or are made fun of," Shepherd-Powell explains. "Luckily, in my classes at Warren Wilson I have not experienced that."
Some feel they must adjust to classroom environments and make dialect harder to detect.
"I think accents are very dynamic," says student Mollie Donihe of Roanoke, Virginia. "If I'm in certain situations, such as an academic setting, I've taught myself to speak with a more standard English dialect."
Fellow student Lyn May of West Virginia says what we say should be far more important than how we say it.
"It's connecting with people on a human level," May says. "Not trying to put everyone on the same standard."
Shepherd-Powell hopes the research leads to a bigger lesson.
"Just because you speak with a dialect it does not mean you are not intelligent and it doesn't pertain to your education level," she stresses.
She encourages students to embrace diversity and respect every voice, because without that respect students like Donihe feel they have to hide part of who they are.
"It reminds me that it is not acceptable," she says. "My accent is being noticed over the content of what I'm saying."
Appallingly, a few years ago, in a race for Virginia’s governor, the native candidate was horribly mocked for his SW Virginia accent .. by supporters of the Ohio native (who won! and now sits in the U.S. Senate).
well said
A few of my Carroll ancestors were involved in a battle that preceded King’s Mountain by a bit- ‘Huck’s Defeat’, the first in the series of battles in the southern campaign that began to turn the tide of the Revolution in favor of the Patriots.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huck’s_Defeat
http://www.chmuseums.org/battle-of-hucks-defeat-hb/
bump
Ha!
I’ve also met people born and bred in TN who speak without a Southern accent at all—and are insulted if you think they should be such a rube as to talk like that.
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