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."
Ha. “General Disarray.”
Meanwhile, any academic expressing a negative opinion about a Spanish accent would be burned at the stake.
Don't automatically assume that they're saying that some other accent isn't a problem and attack people with that accent.
It's the same with any strong regional accent.
The good news is that such things are never an absolute bar to success if you have talent and are willing to work.
Well, let me be the first to note and appreciate that many Southern Belles have an irresistible allure, in part because of speech patterns...
U named Cletus, just like your brother? ;-)
I'm wondering in what direction that social training originally went. (B->W or W->B, or a tossup...)
:-)
Dutch sounds WAY to guttural to me.
Isnt New Mexico part of Mexico?
Close! I’m Festus. (LOL)
Kool....
You have your own Holiday....
Heh. Maybe to a Canadian, and
certainly to a Mexican. By the
same token, to an American,
New Brunswick is some town
in New Hampshire, the guess
might be.
I’m retired! Every day’s a Festus! Life’s Good!
During the Jazz age, a lot of southern blacks moved to the northeast and the great Lakes states.
The southern drawl was a selling point particularly in the music world, so an attempt was made to preserve it across the generations. If you read reviews of black vocalists from the teens through the thirties you will see the accent referenced a lot. Try finding old reviews of Billie Holiday.
As a northerner, I moved to the northwest corner of North Carolina this year and interact with mountain folks every day. I find the culture fascinating. It always amazes me to see northerners (especially northeasterners) look down their nose at the southern dialect. The southern form of English is one of the oldest forms of English in North America. It’s older than many of the northern accents.
Of course, I guess it’s easier to just think folks are beneath them...
You’ve shared this with me(us) before and I again heartfelt salute her memory that still lives in your heart
God bless
Very well done
A lot of posters here have never known love you know
You can tell how they lash out
Looks like the mod cleaned out our posts and the instigator into the a FR wormhole..lol
Oh, my goodness...maceman, that is such a beautiful post. I can’t express it.
I’m so sorry for your loss but at the same time I’m glad that you and your love had SOME time together...I wish it could have been a lifetime.
God bless you
For what it’s worth, my mother-in-law is a born & raised Southern lady...she is still gorgeous at the age of 71, sophisticated, and well-traveled. But she, too, is embarrassed by her Southern accent in certain social situations, and at such times will try to lose it as best she can.
I tend to be more hardheaded. I was once told, “Oh, you don’t have much of an accent at all”, in an approving tone.
I replied, “Well, I guess I’ll have to work on that, won’t I?”
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