English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States | 
 enlarge | Author: Ros Lippi-green
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: $43.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 29028
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0415114772
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.440973
EAN: 9780415114776
ASIN: 0415114772
Publication Date: May 23, 1997
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Product Description
Scrutinizing American attitudes toward language, English With an Accent exposes the way in which language is used to maintain and perpetuate social structures and unequal power relations.
Rosina Lippi-Green explores language prescription and discrimination in a variety of contexts in today's society. She examines situations from the judicial system, the media and corporate America, including such instances as court cases that attempt to exclude persons with accents from teaching young children. In the process she reveals how the media works to promote linguistic stereotyping, how employers discriminate on the basis of language use and how the judicial system uses language to protect the status quo.
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A good start at addressing other-language awareness in the US July 25, 2007
Karen Chung (Taipei, Taiwan)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book does a good job of calling attention to, examining and exemplifying the problem of language discrimination in the United States. This is of course very positive as far as it goes. I have, however, a few minor comments on how this study might have gone further:
(1) The author doesn't discuss the issue of varying levels of intelligibility of accents. All accents are not created equal. Some are easier to understand, others present real comprehension problems. For example, an accent that has consistent vowel values (say, a French or Swedish accent) tends to be easier to understand than one with unpredictable vowel values (some varieties of Chinese English, such as Taiwan English, are notorious for this, and can be quite difficult to follow). Non-Englishlike prosody, e.g. failing to stress new and important information, but then putting stress on less important function words like "to" and "her", can really confuse a listener. And the more of a burden you put on the listener, the less patience you can expect from them.
(2) I disagree with the author that European accents are "never" the target of discrimination. You find them made fun of in all kinds of 19th and 20th century literature, e.g. Sinclair Lewis's _Main Street_ (which parodies immigrant German and Swedish accents in Minnesota in the 1910s). Notably, it is farmers and other humble folk who are often the targets of such parodies.
The author is thus right in zeroing in on *power* relations as the key issue, probably even more than intelligibility. We are less willing to work hard to understand someone who is viewed as less powerful than ourselves or the group we identify with, and tend to be more patient with those we look up to.
For a bit of perspective, think of the deference and patience many of us will show when listening to Stephen Hawking "speaking" through his synthesizer, though this kind of speech is considerably more unnatural and difficult to process than many foreign accents. We're less willing to work as hard when someone seems less worthwhile and more expendable to us. A very simple principle, but its roots are deep and ramifications far-reaching.
(3) This book fails to address the *reasons* for the typical US lack of empathy toward and interest in not just foreigners, but anyone who is too different from the mainstream. We learn to shun or fear differentness, and to deal with it by avoiding any reference to it, hiding from it, trying to pretend it's not there. This is *not* the way to bridge relations between two groups prone to mutual misunderstanding. I suggest that comedian Russell Peters' head-on approach is much more effective - and fun.
(4) I would classify this book more as persuasive discourse rather than an objective study. The advantage of this is a consistent point of view and stand on the main issues - additionally justified by the author's being on the side of "right". The drawback is that this kind of work is unlikely to voice any defense of the other side, and it thus glosses over deeper issues, e.g. the *reasons* behind language discrimination. Lippi-Green adopts a rather emotional tone in her presentation, communicating a feeling of "Isn't this outrageous? How can we allow this?! It must stop!" Fair enough, but besides not delving into where the attitudes come from, neither does she suggest viable, practical ways that might help improve the situation.
I offer two possible starting points:
(1) Foreign language education should be vastly strengthened in the US. Students should be given the feeling that speaking another language is important, highly useful in the real world, and something to be admired. They should themselves experience the feeling of someone else calling the shots and giving them funny feedback when they don't express themselves very aptly or gracefully. Being in the other guy's shoes is a powerful way of generating understanding and true empathy, and fostering patience.
(2) Immigrants and other foreign language speakers should be treated by teachers and other adults as the treasure chests they are of information about a different way of living, talking and thinking. If they were often presented and viewed as people with something genuinely interesting and "cool" to offer, children would certainly be more empathic to their viewpoints and also to the style of English they speak.
These are just two possibilities. With so, so many people from other cultures and language groups now living in the US, I hope that this important issue gets more of the attention it deserves, in the form of more books like this, but also in the whole education system, the media, and all of society. This book opens the door a crack. We need to push it wide open, enter the room, and start taking substantive action to effect meaningful change.
 Wordy, Difficult to Understand November 29, 2004
ncw900
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book has an important message, but it is hidden in the extremely opaque, scientific and distractingly uninteresting writing style. In fact, I can honestly say I would not have had the patience to read past the first chapter without having been forced to finish it.
I wish Lippi-Green would have used a less academic writing style--it would have conveyed her message far more effectively. For a more entertaining and equally educating read try Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, or Donna-Jo Napoli's Language Matters.
 Good book, bad book June 11, 2003
Jmark2001 (Florida)
24 out of 37 found this review helpful
Lippi-Green has gathered together a large amount of linguistic material on accents as social markers and prestige symbols. That is the good part of the book. She is somewhat correct in her analysis of why some accents are high status and some are low status. Mostly, it has something to do with wealth and power. The accents of the wealthy and the powerful are seen as "more correct" than those of the poor and underpriviledged. This is true to a degree but does not tell the whole story. Accent prestige also comes about when the most educated and highly skilled (M.D.s, etc.) and not always wealthy or powerful (teachers, writers) speak in certain patterns. In some cases, accent prestige is simply a result of celebrities speaking in certain ways (this can be seen in the adoption by white middle class teenagers of the black dialect of rap stars who are often from backgrounds that can hardly be considered wealthy or powerful. In the last century, the actor David Garrick was also seen as a model of a "good" accent and set pronunciation standards for many people). Lippi-Green is a fan of social deconstructionist philosopher Michel Foucault and her analysis adheres to one cliche after another. Her dated victimology lessens the value of what would have been an excellent book. Dividing the world into victims and victimizers is simplistic. She labels every categorization that people make based on accents to be discrimination when sometimes it is nothing more than a convenient categorization with no social consequences. This process is universal and occurs even in those groups that Lippi-Green believes are being discriminated against because of their accents (ex: African-Americans are known to percieve the use of "double negatives" ("I don't need no food") by other African-Americans as a sign of being less educated and proper). I also know from my own inner city students how even the underpriviledged categorize each other according to how "ghetto" their speech is. Lippi-Green's use of the very tired and cliched language of oppression made my eyes glaze over in several spots.
It is my opinion that most categorization based on accents is neither malevolent nor well-thought out but a result of the brain's natural tendency to seek out patterns in order to comprehend the environment and incoming stimuli. Lippi-Green, by using social deconstructionist models, is almost forced to see intentional oppression and evil intentions where none may exist. People do not always make assumptions about others based on their accents because they are wicked, nasty language nazis intent on keeping people locked into lifetimes of poverty and oppression. Sometimes they make assumptions simply because they are engaged in the natural process of induction based on the available data. I refuse to see a master with a whip in every individual who asks if I am from New York because I drop the occasional "r" when I speak.
Lippi-Green also takes umbrage at anyone who would dare to suggest that individuals can modify their accents (which they can and do) and that it might be to some individual's advantage to do so (for greater social and economic opportunities). It is. Lippi-Green avoids discussion of the fact that the courts have ruled, time and time again, that discrimination based on accents does NOT violate civil rights laws when the accent is a material obstacle to an individual performing the duties of a job (for example - a receptionist who cannot be understood by callers because of a strong accent, etc.). In such a case, the only way to get ahead would be for the individual to modify their accent. A speech pathologist (I happen to be one) is not a SS storm trooper defending a fascist system, but a trained specialist trying to help an individual learn the verbal skills necessary for employment in a competitive, service oriented economy. Facts are facts, and no matter how much Lippi-Green reconstructs and deconstructs reality into political fodder, speaking with high intelligibilty is a necessity for much advancement in the economy. This is not some empty promise. It is a fact. To mislead individuals to believe otherwise is performing a grave disservice and derailing them from learning employability skills into the dead end of political resentment.
 Perfect for the linguist and non-linguist alike. August 10, 2001
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book explores the many issues surrounding language ideology and discrimination in the United States through providing a thorough discussion and empirical examination of the subjective issues which so often permeate such a loaded topic. It is an excellent read for anyone who is seriously interested in either language or subordination or both. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Pluralistic perspectives in America. Well-written and comprehensive.
Should be required reading October 11, 2000
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent treatment of the complex issue of how discrimination is enacted and perpetuated by linguistic means. Lippi-Green examines in detail specific cases from a number of sources to show that bias is often disguised even from those who show it.Though the book is at times on the technical side, Lippi-Green makes very good use of analogies likely to make this important topic clear and accessible to a wide audience.
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