Scaring the horses:
'I am proud of my accent
and will not change'
By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Professor of linguistics
Faculty of Arts
Kafrelsheikh University
The battle of accents
"Anonymous hard right accounts attacking my accent
again saying l am thick etc, I will reiterate I am proud of my accent and will
not change!" So tweeted Angela Rayner, the Shadow education secretary of
the British Labour party, about her northern accent. She says that her accent
is who she is and it is important that she is genuine in representing her
constituency and getting their voice heard as a part of the British linguistic
and cultural landscape. Similarly, Afro-American communities have long
taken pride in the way they speak and try to maintain their accents as that
reflects their non-ending battle with inequality and racism. Most of them have
resisted all attempts to "whiten" their behaviors including the way
they speak.
In contrast,
many posh speakers in Britain and even those who copy them globally have also
reported that they are also bullied by other people simply because it happens
that they sound posh. Talking about accent bullying and discrimination
while my daughter and I were busy cooking on a lovely Friday, she told me that
Oprah once said in an episode of her famous show that she was bullied back in
school by other Afro-American students as they claimed that " she speaks
and acts like a white girl," which was never her intention as it
came so naturally to her. "I remember being intrigued by that comment, as
I know she mentioned it to empower people to be authentically who they are, no
matter what others say or do, and not to be afraid of showing their true
colours," said my daughter.
Throughout history,
the battle of accents, dialects and languages has been a non-ending one between
social, racial and even religious parties. The way we speak is the first
and instant indicator of our identity. It reflects various things about us: our
background, affiliations and aspirations. These perceptions also have social
and financial implications. Copying a prestigious dialect or accent enables
people to get highly paid prestigious jobs and social prestige or snobbery by
being members of a given social group. And in so doing they simultaneously fall
victims to discrimination by other groups. Thus, whether your accent is
standard or substandard or regional, you will meet offenders or snobs. So, why
is accent such a sensitive topic, provoking such strong reactions
and how is it related to social
prestige?
A language is a dialect with an army and a navy
The concept of the standard language has nothing to do
with the language itself. The criteria of the standard are completely
extralinguistic in nature. Any language, dialect or accent can be the standard,
provided its speakers enjoy sufficient economic and political power. Truly,
"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy," said one of the
audience of lecture by the prominent sociolinguist Max Weinreich. So, the
standard is a dogma created by the powerful to serve their interests and is
largely impacted by the dynamics of language in society.
For airs and graces
When people go the extra mile to stick to the standard
language, dialect or accent, in pursuit of being part of the powerful community
that speak the powerful standard, they aspire to gain what sociolinguistics
calls " overt prestige" or snobbery. However, the tides of
postmodernism and the current seismic changes in the attitudes towards the
standard accent or dialect in Britain and many countries worldwide, which allow
for the rise of the substandard dialects, have given momentum to a special kind
of prestige, termed "covert prestige" or reverse snobbery.
Accordingly,
in proudly sticking to her northern accent, Angela Rayner is seeking covert prestige which is motivated by a deep,
anti elitist desire for shattering linguistic stigmas and embracing one's
" sub-standard" accent as a symbol of self embracing, self
acceptance, equality, diversity, and sense of belonging to regional communities,
among many other things. Seeking covert prestige in politics proves so
rewarding. People vote for the candidates who belong to their community,
and accent or dialect is the top signifier of that sense of belonging.
So, politicians get more empowered by aligning with the common people and
sub-standards.
Teenagers and millennials,
also in search of covert prestige or reverse snobbery, tend to defy the
standard and anger the stiff upper-lipped gatekeepers. The changes millennials
make have impacted the spoken and written varieties alike in a daring,
unprecedented fashion. Following a sociolinguistic change from below, young
British royals are also cautiously aspiring to a covert prestige without
scaring the horses. Prince Harry's accent, for instance, manifests
various forms of millennial English such as glottalisation. Pop culture and
substandard dialects or accents have increasingly become associated with
affluent figures, social media influencers and young, bright icons. This makes
them a magnet to an increasing number of speakers and grants them a wide social
acceptance and prestige. One of my colleagues once told me that many well-heeled
and highly educated Egyptian teenagers
and millennials are currently shunning the overt prestige associated with their
prestigious Cairene Arabic and "try to copy many forms in the accents and
dialects of the lower classes and even slum areas in an attempt to sound more
fashionable, and boost power and
self-confidence!" They probably find prestige in using vulgar forms as a
message to anyone that they are strong and even offensive, if needed.
Nostalgia for the young self
Many people definitely remember being "slightly
ashamed" of their regional accent when they were younger. "I shifted
to the mainstream accent to fit in," said an informant of one of my
studies on dialect shift cycle. "But as I got older, I subconsciously
switch back to my parents' dialect, and it became a great source of nostalgia
for me; embracing it was embracing my identity," he added. Thus, the
pursuit of covert prestige is gaining momentum and seems to engulf the standard
dialects and accents, and scare the horses who guard them and their overt
prestige or snobbery.
Finally, let's stop
judging people by their accents, dialects or languages. The beauty of life lies
in diversity and we should not be terrified by that or pigeon hole those who
sound differently. Let's enjoy listening to other tones, rhythms and sounds
coming from the miraculous instrument called the human voice and let everyone
get the kind of prestige they desire.
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