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."
They are the same.
When I was a kid there were still poor southern whites that spoke that way.
Exactly. Besides it's not Sourthern Speech that's the problem. You might have to wait for it, but you can understand what we are saying. Unless it's a sayin' in which case we'd be glad to splain to you.
It's dem fast talkin yankees that you can't understand. And they're rude about it too.
Meanwhile, people are given a pass for their NY accent.
Hell, I would welcome students with a Southern dialect with open arms! Most of my students are riddled with the disease known as ebonics...
That has been going on since before the War For Southern Independence. We talk slow, we think fast.........................
You’ll have prably heard of Cary, North Carolina but I bet youins don’t know that it’s an acronyum.
CARY stands for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees!
Yuck! Yuck! Ain’t that right Cletus?
Bronx accent is Hahvahd material fer sure.....................
I’ve never seen Caliph Baraq’s SAT score.
Some say it’s the second most secure data in the US (#1 being his golf scores).
So is stupidity.
“It is to your peril and embarrassment if you think a Southern accent means that someone is uneducated.”
Born in New Jersey/Metro NYC, raised in Southern Indiana.
That “Southern Accent” was my best sales tool, especially with arrogant West Coasters.
When a West Coaster or a Northeasterner hears a Southern Accent, they IMMEDIATELY think “Ignorant Rube”, just like the TV has programmed them to do. They think they are going to get one over on you, until the negotiations begin, and the Southern accent goes away, replaced with mouthfuls of techy jargon in a straight, dictive way.
I watched jaws drop as they suddenly realize you played THEM, not the other way around as they thought, but they have already told the boss they are going to steal a “good Deal” from the “Rube”.
It was always fun...
Did you see the movie Shadrach, with Harvey Keitel cast as a poor southern moonshiner in Virginia in the Depression?
Somebody was nuts to cast him in that role. Andie MacDowell, his co-star is from North Carolina, so her accent was real, if a little bit strained at times.....................
My BIL is from Knoxville, TN and it don’t get more southern than him and he has a 4 yr engineering degree from UT. But Mr GG2 who is from CA originally met him he thought my BIL was a total bumpkin. He was shocked when I told him my BIL was an electrical engineer. :=)
Classic line.
Can you say the same thing about ebonics?
“There’s a southern accent, where I come from
The young ‘uns call it country, the yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talking, but everything gets done
With a southern accent, where I come from”
:-)
Good one!!!!!
“Just ‘cause I talk slow Ma’am doesn’t mean I’m stupid...”
Clint Walker to Kim Novak in The Great Bank Robbery
Havent seen a movie in many years!
I remember that. You'd go use the bathroom in a gas station and see muddy footprints on the toilet seat. I guess that's how you use an outhouse and not get splinters.
What is that exactly? Where I come from a southern accent IS standard. And where is the study on the obnoxious yankee accent?
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