Legitimising dialect discrimination

[Yankee]

[Molly]

[Molly]

Could any US American here please feed back on this?

"While many people believe there to be only one correct form of a language, what is standard actually varies from dialect to dialect.
For example, the normal Southern pronunciation of the word pin does not differ from the pronunciation of the word pen. But because other dialects make a distinction between the vowels i and e preceding the nasal sound /n/, speakers of those dialects may assess the Southern pronunciation as incorrect instead of simply different. Judging someone's pronunciation (or grammar or word choice) as wrong may lead to unwarranted judgments about their intelligence or ability.
Such dialect discrimination is widely tolerated in the United States."

http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/digest_pdfs/0104-hazen.pdf

[Yankee]

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

[Molly]

Mr P's gone loco. Gone all trolling. Time for sleep.

Don't you get that "I'm all right, Jack" feeling from many of Mr P's posts?

[Molly]

I guess, if this is true, there's not much hope for dialect speakers in the US:

To quote from Teaching Tolerance Magazine, author Rosina Lippi-Green says that dialect discrimination is "so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination. And the door stands wide open." In her book "English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination" Lippi-Green allow us to examine the manifestation of language prejudice in American society.

More here: http://www.motherwitstories.com/stories.htm

[Molly]

And example of dialect discrimination at school:

"It happened to me, sort of. I was born in Delaware and lived there for the
> first 5 years of my life. We then moved to Indiana where I started grade
> school. I flunked an out-loud reading assignment in 3rd grade because I
> refused to say crick, instead of creek. That would've been in 1979."

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0303a&L=ads-l&D=0&P=16770

[Stew.t.]

Hi Molly

I don´t deny that you can use the word "legitimize" as you stated. I was being devil´s advocate, as to how you can perceive one thing from different angles.

However on topic, I believe you can find examples to defend any argument you may have.
The point is your perception of this form of discrimination lacks balance. Of course it exists, but is not overtly commonplace.

To what degree do you think standard British English exists in the workplace? And how would you define this version of English?

I believe there has been a move away from any kind of standard British English to accents. You only have to ring a call centre, go into a bank or listen to news readers to witness this.

Compare this to German, where interestingly at IBM they should all speak "High German".

Is this discrimination against dialect present in Spanish workplaces?

cheers stew.t.
_________________
Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[Molly]

[Stew.t.]

Hi Molly

No I mean a move away from a general standard (clear, not strongly accented) English to accents.

I see, so the sociolinguists all believe this to be very commonplace. Of course a controversial statement sells better doesn´t it.

And how many have studied in numerous workplace environments, catchment areas and different business fields do you think?

Alright, how about my question concerning the degree that British standard English (whatver that may be now) is used in the workplace, BBC exempt?

Also this attitude takes no customer reaction into consideration. Think about how accents/dialects are perceived by the general public, corporate world.

Do you or they (sociolinguits) think that maybe to a customer, a heavy dialect may not sound professional or communicable?
At what level should we allow dialectical usage on grounds of non discrimination, if it hinders the effective undertaking of the job?

cheers stew.t.
_________________
Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[Molly]

[Stew.t.]

[MrPedantic]