ABSTRACT

Since its initial publication, English with an Accent has provoked debate and controversy within classrooms through its in-depth scrutiny of American attitudes towards language. Rosina Lippi-Green discusses the ways in which discrimination based on accent functions to support and perpetuate social structures and unequal power relations.

This second edition has been reorganized and revised to include:

  • new dedicated chapters on Latino English and Asian American English
  • discussion questions, further reading, and suggested classroom exercises,
  • updated examples from the classroom, the judicial system, the media, and corporate culture
  • a discussion of the long-term implications of the Ebonics debate
  • a brand-new companion website with a glossary of key terms and links to audio, video, and images relevant to the each chapter's content.

English with an Accent is essential reading for students with interests in attitudes and discrimination towards language.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

Language ideology or science fiction?

chapter 1|22 pages

The linguistic facts of life

chapter 2|17 pages

Language in motion

chapter 3|11 pages

The myth of non-accent

chapter 4|11 pages

The standard language myth

chapter 5|12 pages

Language subordination

chapter 6|23 pages

The educational system

Fixing the message in stone

chapter 7|29 pages

Teaching children how to discriminate

(What we learn from the Big Bad Wolf) 1

chapter 8|19 pages

The information industry

chapter 9|33 pages

Real people with a real language

The workplace and the judicial system

chapter 10|32 pages

The real trouble with black language 1

chapter 11|21 pages

Hillbillies, hicks, and Southern belles

The language rebels 1

chapter 12|13 pages

Defying paradise

Hawai’i 1

chapter 13|7 pages

The other in the mirror

chapter 14|26 pages

¡Ya basta!

chapter 15|22 pages

The unassimilable races

What it means to be Asian

chapter 16|19 pages

Case study 1

Moral panic in Oakland

chapter 17|10 pages

Case study 2

Linguistic profiling and fair housing

chapter 18|4 pages

Conclusion

Civil (dis)obedience and the shadow of language