Date:  Fri, 14 Jul 1995 10:45:15 -0400

From:  "H. Stephen Straight (Binghamton University/SUNY)"

     <sstraigh[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BINGSUNS.CC.BINGHAMTON.EDU>

Subject: Re: oj trial



On Fri, 14 Jul 1995, William A. Kretzschmar, Jr. wrote:



> Sali Mufwene's objection to the putative greater competence of native

> speakers to discriminate dialects is well taken. There is nothing to

> prevent anybody, native speaker or not, from learning about different

> dialects in a language. I would still say that, on average, someone who

> has missed out on growing up in a place is much more likely to not to

> command the kind of acculturation to that place that is necessary to

> discriminate dialects accurately. Studies, e.g. by Jack Chambers in

> *Language* and Payne in the Penn group, suggest that even people who move

> to a new place at a young age do not fully command the linguistic variants

> of the place as the natives do; it is the second generation before such

> full acculturation takes place. The studies are of production, but I bet

> perception would not be far different. ...



I bet not. Indeed, I know many people who are far better than I am at

recognizing dialects or accents but who are far poorer than I am at

mimicking them when they hear them. Granted, productive "command" of

these variants requires more than mimicking ability, but my point is that

good recognizers need have no comparable production facility.



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H Stephen STRAIGHT, Assoc Prof of Anthro & of Ling, Binghamton Univ (SUNY)

Director: Grad Studies in Anthro, Prog in Ling, and Lgs Across the Curric

Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000; Voice: 607-777-2824; Fax: -2889/-2477

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