Abstract: In this essay I will be introduce writes June Jordan, Amy Tan as well as myself to speak about their experiences with accent and language discrimination. This will also incorporate a rhetorical analysis of how they choose to approach their audience. These hardships are not easy to overcome in our life times but acknowledging them prevents ignorance.
I have been studying the concept of English over the past few weeks and everything appeared to be about basic syntax and diction. But, it wasn’t until I read articles from different authors from different backgrounds that I discovered syntax and diction alone do not make up language, but along with these principles comes dialect, style and most importantly culture. There are, to my surprise, many different ways to speak english with those three variable involved but, my favorite method was explored through reading June Jordans’s “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie Jordan.” Amy Tan’s “Mother tongue” and the connection to my personal story that I can see the effects of language discrimination. These sets of people have explored how different standards of english have affected their lives.
To say it simply, Jordan’s audience is not just for people of color. Her piece is intended to stick out from others’ instruction of the english language. One of the most captivating ways Jordan draws in her audience is through pathos. Jordan recalls a conversation with her students about the book The Color Purple inorder to provide insight of how African American students reacted to Black English. When Jordan posed a question inquiring about the students comprehension and favorability on the book there was a long pause before one of the students said,“Why does she have them talk so funny. It doesn’t sound right.” If you have ever read or watched the color purple more than once you are probably accustomed to the style of the dialog which is slang. But for the students who are reading it for the first time they can not truly grasp the situation unfolding in the book. Jordan’s purpose when implementing this quote is to have leaders somewhat shocked. This is because the student themself spoke the same english like the main character and to hear them call their own language “funny” leaves a disheartening effect on readers, which really connects with the rhetorical device pathos. With this idea in mind, one can see that only fostering the typical American language can take away from one’s own identity.
Jordan is very conscious of her word choice and uses it as a way for her audience to see that Black English is needed. Jordans argument stems around supporting Black English but in order to convey her ideas her word choice needs to be displayed sophisticatedly. And she does this when calling out the injustices she’s noticed when it comes to the White standard for English and the Black standard for English. When Jordan says, “White standards of English persist, supreme and unquestioned” this makes it evident that people have only chosen to acknowledge white language thus making it appear to be the only correct way to speak English. Her word choice sculpted the way I perceived Black English. Rather than just a dialect of English I now view it as a blend of language, culture and identity.
One of the most common problems immigrants face when coming to the United States is a language barrier. For some it will be learning the language of a typical American person but for most it will be having to have others learn their style of english. The next variation of english I will be speaking about will be Chinese English. Amy Tan, writer and child of immigrated parents, reflects on her experiences with her mothers english while growing up. Tan writes this personal essay in an informal manner. Despite her English college degree and credentials as a best selling author opens the piece assuring the reader that she is not a scholar in English but simply a writer who loves the language. She uses this narrative to ease the reader into her essay and aims to manifest relatability between herself and all the readers.
As an immigrant child, Tan examines the various forms of English she uses and how they change depending on her environment. She realized her switch in Englishes during one of her book talks where she used perfect English. She had said, “The intersection of memory upon imagination,” which she realized differed from her other English. She uses a more comfortable form of English around her family where she uses phrases like “Not waste money that way”. By addressing this circumstance, she is highlighting the effect her native language has had on the English that she speaks around her family. This scenario is common within a lot of immigrant children. They switch between the English that they speak with their family which is influenced by their native languages and the standard English they use to speak in public places.
Tan’s mother utilizes english that is different from your typical american literature book but it is nonetheless english. Throughout her childhood, Tan had to assist her mom in public places with her English skills. She had to pretend to be her mom on phone calls so that her mother receives the services she needs. Tan includes one instance where her mother visited the hospital to retrieve her CAT scan. The hospital claimed to have lost her CAT scan and informed her to make another appointment. They simply dismissed her despite her concerns that she had lost her husband and son due to brain tumors. The author uses pathos here and gives the reader a real life personal example to illustrate the mistreatment her mother received because she does not use “standard” English the nurses are equipped with. In the long run the report made to the mother in the hospital was a mistake, but the hospital still did not apologize because of the mother’s English, even though the mother had tried her best to speak English well. They refused to hear her out until the hospital made a call to Tan. “And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English-lo and behold-we had assurances the CAT scan would be found.” The writer explained her mother’s issue in “perfect” English and then they immediately addressed the issue and apologized to her mother. This respect was not something Tan’s mother was afforded with her “broken” English. When Tan used the most standard English to communicate with the hospital the hospital apologized to Ms. Tan. This real example captures the reader’s heart and proves that accent and language discrimination have an imapct on social lives of people.. The readers of “mother tongue” mostly face immigrants from foreign countries. Most of them have the same life experience. The unfair treatment because of the non-standard English is most resonant. The author uses pathos in rhetorical strategies to arouse readers’ sympathy and remind readers of themselves. The argument was made that people who do not speak standard English should also be treated with respect and fairness. And once again emphasized that even if English is a second language, people can speak standard and fluently.
One problem I faced growing up was people misjudging me because of the way I talked. I originally grew up in the Southern state of North Carolina so I naturally developed a southern accent and would often speak a mile within a minute. So when I moved to New York and went to my first Catholic school at the age of ten many of the students and teachers couldn’t understand what I was saying. Actually, they could understand bits and pieces but they would mimic my vocabulary. So I was placed in, what it was called at the time, the special education classroom. Where it was prominent that many of the students did not have a learning disability but a behavior issue. We were labeled less than when we were compared to the “gifted class” of 5-301. Because of this “disability” I was never able to learn at the proper rate a child in elementary school would have. However, it wasn’t until I started to lose my accent in the seventh grade that I was able to be taken out of these special education classrooms. My version of English had nothing to do with my learning capability. It is one thing for me to be placed into that class because of the learning scale between northern and southern schools, it is another to only judge me based on my accent.
In conclusion, accent and language discrimintion go hand in hand in contributing to the constant battling in the social and economic worlds. Jordan, Tan and myself included have seen the consequences of only being taught that Standard English is the only correct way for American speakers to intectat. Including these views will only hurt the prosperity of people. For a country that claims to be a melting pot it is highly ironic that certain jobs can only be attainable by the sound of your voice.
