Date:  Fri, 15 Dec 1995 09:38:10 -0600

From:  "Timothy C. Frazer" <mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>

Subject: Re: Unauth Index to "American Tongues" - Improvements Invited



The trouble here may be that there are two versions of the movie.



Tim Frazer









On Thu, 14 Dec 1995, Terry Lynn Irons wrote:



> Having used the video tape on many occasions, I can attest that

> the following index by Ms. Dumas is not accurate. It is not even

> accurate as an outline. An excellent educational supplement to

> the video tape was prepared by Walt Wolfram, which suggests that

> the video tape falls into three natural parts: the nature of

> dialects, the origin of dialects, and the consequences of speaking

> a dialect. Ms Dumas index not only does not reflect that structure,

> but is seriously incorrect if it intends to reflect the linear

> progression of the tape.

>

> The tape, nonetheless, is worthwhile for all to use.

>

> >

> > Unauthorized Index to Contents of "American Tongues"

> >

> > Compiled by Bethany Dumas, UTK English Department, 1994

> >

> > 1.   Southern (Black English?)

> > 2.   Mary had a little lamb

> >     Its fleece was white as snow

> >     And everywhere that Mary went

> >     The lamb was sure to go

> >     6 speakers: white male, white female, (Penn Dutch?), white

> >     male, black male child, white female, white female

> > 3.   Ranch talk--Texas

> > 4.   Northern cities--

> > 5.   Black female teenagers

> > 6.   Speakers about other dialects

> > 7.   Student actors (Shakespeare, etc.)

> > 8.   Institutional speech (sales talk, computers, etc.--jargon)

> > 9.   Church singing

> > 10.   Tangier Island ("Tangiermen") ("I figure I sound just like

> >     Walter Cronkite.         ")

> > 11.   Comments on settlement history of USA (fewer regional

> >     distinctions east of the Mississippi)

> > 12.   Roger W. Shuy (Georgetown University)

> > 13.   Style differences

> >     >Kentucky radio call-in program ("I'm just a plain old

> >     hillbilly.") (Cratis Williams) (He may could wear it in a 8

> >     1/2.")

> >     >Ohio ("Midwest--straight American, bland") (We don't talk

> >     funny, but if you want funny, go about 70 miles south."

> >     >Texas (Most Westerners in their speaking ... are more

> >     open, more forthright.")

> > 14.   Foreign language influence (Louisiana French Creole)

> > 15.   New York City deli

> > 16.   Vocabulary differences--cabinet (RI), gumband, pau hana,

> >     jambalaya, antigogglin, snickelfritz, schlep

> >     [Today we could add words like dis--what else?]

> > 17.   Children's games

> > 18.   Walt Wolfram (now of NC State) on how children acquire

> >     language patterns, vocabulary

> > 19.   Southern female black (professional)

> > 20.   NO STANDARD ENGLISH ACCENT--but there is a

> >     "NETWORK" STANDARD (voice of Directory Assistance--

> >     generic speech, "the voice from nowhere")

> > 21.   Female "Yalie" on West Virginia speech ("this really kind of

> >     'you all' stuff") ("I was not gonna have little Southern

> >     babies who talked like that.")

> > 22.   REGIONAL STEREOTYPES

> >     "Southerners talk like 'niggers'."

> >     "Rampant brain death west of the Hudson"

> >     In Manhattan the air is skyscrapers is so thin that people

> >     have a nasal accent.

> >     Northerners are not hospitable (grating, nasal, unkind).

> >     /a:s/ for /ays/ ("See, ice, ass-holes.")

> >     Texan on Northern stereotypes about Southerners (always

> >     depicted as dumb hick in movies) (Examples)

> > 23.   Regional and ethnic humor (Georgians talk in questions--no

> >     wonder they lost the Civil War)

> > 24.   Linguistically insecure female speaker

> > 25.   Consequences of speaking a nonstandard dialect (Brooklyn

> >     speaker with speech coach) (Wolfram) (not what corporate

> >     world is looking for)

> > 26.   Variation in Boston speech

> > 27.   To tell which dialect is better, look at WHO is better: Urban

> >     better than rural, mc better than wc, white better than black,

> >     cultured vs. white trash (uneducated--"I ain't got no") vs.

> >     black

> > 28.   If you speak a dialect, you have to be better [sound

> >     familiar?]

> > 29.   Female speakers on style-shifting ("Look at them two

> >     beautiful girls--if they'd keep their mouths shut, they'd be

> >     perfect.")

> > 30.   Boston Brahmins

> > 31.   Other speakers on stereotypes--reasons for exaggeration

> >     (Boston Italian North End--no r's, etc.)--advantages ("The

> >     women, they eat it up" and "Guys are intimidated")

> > 32.   Black English--necessary for relating? ("I don't want my

> >     boys sounding like white males.") ("She a school girl

> >     instead of a mama girl.")

> > 33.   Pride in regional variation

> > 34.   Fred G. Cassidy--don't spoil communication

> > 35.   Attitudes

> > 36.   Credits

> >

>

>

> --

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> Terry Lynn Irons    t.irons[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]morehead-st.edu

> Voice Mail:       (606) 783-5164

> Snail Mail:       UPO 604 Morehead, KY 40351

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