This
week’s readings were very interesting because it focused on language variations
and language ideologies. Chapter 5 “Linguistic Variation and Standards” of
McKay and Bokhorst-Heng’s International
English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts looked at the issues of World
Englishes in their contexts of socio-cultural diversity. As a bilingual major,
I feel that this chapter was very important to read. The book discussed the
different variations of English that are coming about with the use of English
and other languages by bilingual speakers. It is difficult to distinguish a
Standard English because of the variations of language and the interactions
between people. After reading this chapter, I just wondered how can there be a
Standard English and who decides what is to be considered Standard English?
In
chapter 2 “The Myth of Non-accent,” it considers standard language and
non-accent both as abstractions and as myths. Accent is a loose reference to a
specific “way of speaking” (Lippie & Green, p. 42). I learned that there
are two elements to distinguish one variety of a language from another: prosodic
and segmental features. I found this to be interesting because my friends and I
always talk about how each other sounds funny. My friends from around
Bloomington-Normal or central Illinois say that my friends from Chicago or
northern suburbs have “weird” accents and we joke about it all the time how my
friends that live near Chicago have strong Chicago accents. I think it is
amusing when my friends say that I do not really have an accent because I feel like
since I have lived all across the United States that I have picked up different
kinds of accents from the other places I have lived.
