The way people speak has to do with the community they grew up in, along with the phrases and accents that they use, which is affected by the region that an individual lives in. In America, there are many diverse dialects possibly because of the numerous cultures brought from the immigrants that came to America. As Walt Whitman said, “Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both free and compacted composition of all.” There are many different regions of American English. One of them is called the Pacific Southwest, a region that covers California. The dialect is commonly known to be the accent of Surfer Dudes and the Valley Girls. However, there is more to the dialect than the stereotype created by Hollywood. The Pacific Southwest has interesting origins of the dialect, influences that helped create the dialect, and how the dialect is perceived by others. The origins of the Pacific Southwest dialect started when settlers came …show more content…
Although Hollywood has created a stereotype for the accent, it is not exclusively spoken by blondes. Penelope Eckert and Norma Denton explained this in the article “American Varieties California English”. The real California, with a population of 34 million, is only 46,7% white. Most of them are not blonde and don’t spend their days at the beach. California has a large Latino population that currently accounts for 32.4% of the state’s numbers. Also, the state recently has a large Chinese-American and Japanese-American population. California now has a large and diverse Asian-American population that accounts for 11.2% of the population. (Eckert, Penelope, and Norma Denton, “American Varieties California English.”, pbs.org ) The Pacific Southwest’s cultural multifariousness gives the area a fascinating linguistic style. Because of Hollywood, the dialect is recognizable and is perceived negatively by
In order to protect the white working class, racial laws were created and directly targeted towards Chinese immigrants to protect their whiteness. Chapter seven explains the new threat of the arrival of Japanese immigrants in California. During the beginning of the anti-Chinese sentiment and white working-class racism, Japanese immigrants were also under the romanticized belief of
One of the two books I read over the summer is How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez. This story took place in the late 1960s in the Dominican Republic. The four sisters Carla, Yolanda, Sandra, and Sofia learn to adjust in their new surroundings in New York after their family was forced to leave the Dominican Republic due to their father’s dilemma with the government. Throughout the book, the four sisters told stories that were very memorable to them. The second book that I read was October Sky, by Homer Hickam.
Being an area already used by Native Americans; new California settlers such as the Spanish, Russians, John Sutter, American Pioneers, and international groups had different
“By 1850, [California]… had become the world’s most racially and diverse city” (Foner 478). Even to this day, California seems to have one of the most diverse populations of the country. Although, all of these different racial groups, all looking and competing for the same thing, tensions were bound to rise. And they did. Although California may have seemed like a land of opportunity for all, discrimination of races that were not white was present in the territory just as much as anywhere else in the nation.
Native Californians were not able to told that their owned land and some of the Californians drifted away from the
California has had many events in history that have shaped the state to what it is today. It all began with an event that would change the way people viewed California and an opportunity for the state to grow. One of the major events that changed the course of the state is the Gold Rush. The California Gold Rush had a huge impact in the state because it gave people the opportunity to better their economic circumstances. It also created a great migration and violence between different ethnicities that were all seeking the same thing.
Lakota Language Introduction Lakota is a Siouan language which is spoken by its people (Lakota people) who belong to the Sioux tribes. It is one of the dialects of the Sioux language apart from Dakota and Nakota (Powers, 2009). Sioux is spoken by more than 30,000 people in the US and Canada and is therefore positioned at number five amongst the most spoken native languages in the United States. Lakota is one of the three major regional varieties comprising of Western Dakota and Eastern Dakota. Western Dakota also known as Yankton-Yanktonai is at the middle of Eastern Dakota and Lakota.
The large state of California stretches almost 900 miles along the Pacific Ocean and the Mexican border. This state is best known for the city of Los Angeles, which is the seat of the entertainment industry in Hollywood. This glamour of the entertainment industry of course comes along with negative elements like substance abuse and mental illness. Read below to learn more: California’s Substance Abuse Numbers: Death from drug abuse is the number one premature killer in California.
The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 was a masterpiece of the 19th century. It represented the grand facade of glamour and American achievement. The World’s Fair was a spectacular event, bursting with bright lights and daring sights that left visitors speechless, but The World’s Fair wasn’t the only phenomenon happening in Chicago during this time. Innocent people were being brutally murdered alongside this brilliant piece of American good fortune. Architect Daniel Burnham and psychotic serial killer H. H. Holmes are the two main characters of this story and embody the light and the dark.
Code Talkers Ingenious-clever, original, and inventive. The Navajo Code Talkers and the creators of the code were all ingenious. During World War II, the Allied forces were having terrible communication problems, and the Japanese forces on the Pacific were cracking codes faster than new ones could be made.
The promise of a fortune, and the mass migration left a lasting legacy in California’s history. However, the biggest lasting legacy left was the processes that were time consuming, heath risking, and environmental damaging. The California
In the 1920s, the entire culture of The United States was changing as women gained more rights and black jazz came into popularity. Along with this culture shift, language changed as well. As the 1920s grew, more women’s rights had come into popular culture,“The movement of the ‘liberated woman’ had an immense influence on the country’s language” (Bulletin).
The main points that will be looked at are the different genders, backgrounds, and groups. These are used to help to better understand why language is used differently. The research done by Deborah Tannen showed that
In California the culture is different than in Massachusetts so the types of slang and what they say is different. The shifts occur that changes the meaning over the year because of the time period. Every time
Dialects are not just accents but also grammar, vocabulary, syntax and common expressions used. One is able to identify and distinguish between different people, different ethnicities and races as people speak different languages. Each human belongs to a community which makes them speak a specific language and dialect that represent their community and differentiates them from others. Language connects people to their community as they are connected to people that speak the same