English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States

by Rosina Lippi-Green

In this bestselling textbook, Rosina Lippi-Green scrutinizes American attitudes towards language. Using examples drawn from a variety of contexts: the classroom, the court, the media and corporate culture, she exposes the way in which discrimination based on accent functions to support and perpetuate social structures and unequal power relations. English with an Accent: This fascinating and highly readable book forces us to acknowledge the ways in which language is used to discriminate.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, Sociology, Textbooks, Teaching, Social Justice

286 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 1997

About the author

Rosina Lippi-Green is the pen-name in which Rosina Lippi writes under for linguistic topics.

Other aliases include Rosina Lippi (for literary and contemporary fiction), and Sara Donati (historical fiction).

Lippi holds a PhD in linguistics from Princeton University and taught linguistics for twelve years.

Reviews

[Matt Lucente]

Idk if I want to give a textbook a star rating, but this was a really good text for both students in sociolinguistics and for people who might just want to learn about linguistic discrimination in the US and get real mad about it. Extremely well-researched and relevant, this book provides a rundown of introductory sociolinguistic concepts (ie. language variance as a social marker, code-switching, etc etc.) as well as specific examples of how language subordination works in the US, how children are taught to discriminate via education and media, and the destructive attitudes many otherwise well-meaning people might have towards speakers of "non-standard" dialects such as AAVE, Southern and Appalachian English, or Hawai'ian creole. In reality, of course, "standard American English" is a myth, as is non-accent, and efforts to enforce conformity to such arbitrary and mythical standards are one of the many ways in which people are overtly discriminated against and oppressed in American society today.

"What is surprising, even deeply disturbing, is the way that many individuals who consider themselves democratic, even-handed, rational, and free of prejudice, hold on tenaciously to a standard language ideology which attempts to justify restriction of individuality and rejection of the Other"

[Ryelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting and enlightening. In a country where the word "discrimination" makes people shudder, there is, in truth, many different ways we discriminate against others. One of those areas concerns accent and the way people speak English. The way we speak is something so deeply ingrained into who we are that it is something we sometimes don't think about consciously. However, the same types of ideologies that came into play during the repression of blacks and women can be seen in the ideologies we place on language. We have a subconscious belief that there is only one correct way to speak English, one correct way to pronounce words, and those who do not do so are generally stigmatized. Lippi-Green points out many things I'd never thought of or considered when it comes to accent, but once I began reading this book I also started seeing many of the things she described as linguistic discrimination. It's all over the place. It also helped pointed out that even though we had the Civil Rights movement, there are still many ways people enforce the idea of superiority over others. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of how discrimination still exists in these United States.

[RdWd · Rating 5 out of 5]

People are often oblivious to language prejudice and the damage it causes. It's one of the last discriminatory practices that's still widely accepted. Whereas movements to combat racism, sexism, homophobia and others have seen much support: language prejudice still exists and little is done about it, despite there being enough evidence to show that people ARE excluded from communities and jobs based SOLELY on their speech.

Lippi-Green's volume is one of the first to truly document some of these linguistic prejudices and language ideologies set up within the U.S.A. She investigates the myths surrounding non-accent and standard variety, introduces a language subordination model, and details the prejudices people receive through the entertainment and information industries, and the educational and judicial systems. She also investigates how speakers of African American Vernacular Englishes and Southern American Englishes attempt to resist standardisation.

With language variety, like with race, gender and sexual orientation, there is no 'ideal'. Ultimately, all varieties of a language ARE equal, don't let any 'standard English' ideology tell you otherwise.

An aptly researched, well-written addition to the fields of sociolinguistics and perceptual dialectology; and, although focusing on the U.S. alone, the lessons that can be learned here are applicable to people all over the globe, whether an academic or a casual reader.

Some choice quotes:

"What is surprising, even deeply disturbing, is the way that many individuals who consider themselves democratic, even-handed, rational, and free of prejudice, hold on tenaciously to a standard language ideology which attempts to justify restriction of individuality and rejection of the Other" - Lippi-Green (p.73)

"We do not, cannot under laws, ask people to change the color of their skin, their religion, their gender, but we regularly demand of people that they suppress or deny the most effective way they have of situating themselves socially in the world. ie. 'You may have dark skin but you must not sound Black'. 'You can wear a yarmulke if it is important to you as a Jew, but lose the accent'. 'Maybe you come from the Ukraine, but can't you speak real English?' 'If you just didn't sound so corn-pone, people would take you seriously'. 'You're the best salesperson we've got, but must you sound gay on the phone?' "(p.63-64)

[maia · Rating 5 out of 5]

clearly and accessibly communicates a host of complex ideas about language and ideology + enlightening and puts to words a lot of things i think we are subconsciously aware of. super interesting and just seriously so good, recommend to everyone who thinks a lot about language and language usage and honestly everyone in academia in general

[Danny Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for a class, but it wasn’t as dry as most textbooks (except for the chapter on court cases). The different chapters all dug into different areas of linguistic discrimination, some of which I had never considered before. It leaves me questioning why we allow discrimination based on language when we find it unacceptable everywhere else.

[Liberty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lippi-Green man i wish they asked about you at interview bc this gave me so many thoughts i will be thinking about the sound house analogy for the rest of my days

['becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I first encountered this book as a textbook for my college Language Ideologies class, it has proved to be equally invaluable for providing talking points during informal debates about language use. Several of the cited studies are memorable on their own, and together they build a thesis that rests at a compelling intersection of linguistics, sociology, and politics.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a short book that looks at how Accent/Dialect effects people sociologically, academically, economically and otherwise. I recommend this book to everyone.

[Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ground breaking volume. Must be 10 years old now. Still strong!

[Stephen Gillespie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide reaching and accessible work on how everyday language is used for subordination. The findings should support what we already know, rather than function as revelations, but Lippi-Green brings a wealth of well reasoned evidence to powerfully state her case.

At points, the language is oddly exclusionary. It being a decade old rears its head in some of the conversation about gender (which does not at all forgive it, but these transgressions are minor and phrasing based - though you could include the exclusion of some intersectional factors as a flaw in the wider work). The book is also, occasionally, uncomfortably positioned. There is clearly a presumed audience and, even when criticising the defaultist status that language takes (that presumes and prioritises certain identities), the book finds itself doing this.

Though, fundamentally, this book is more aimed at the privileged. It is aimed at those who are facilitated in ways that makes their language discriminatory, and allows them to subjugate. It is the right audience to tackle and the book feels very focused. It could, perhaps, speak more widely.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on linguistics purely for fun, because I'm a massive nerd for languages. Though this one was much more on the textbook side, with lots of footnotes and data, I still found it engaging as well as informative. A bit distressing as well, because language-based discrimination is still just as prevalent now as the late nineties when this book was first published. It's a form of prejudice that too often flies under the radar because we just don't like it when someone talks different from us. There are literally hundreds of ways to speak English as a native language, none of them superior to another, yet we insist on worshipping some nebulous form of "Standard English" that doesn't even exist as a way to degrade perfectly effective dialects. If you've learned it as a native language, then it's valid, period. I was also struck by the way we judge certain foreign accents of English differently, depending on their origin. We think French accents are classy, but we dislike anything perceived as non-Western European. It's unsettling how racism can creep into all the corners of our subconscious. A subject that always needs more light shed upon it.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book full of descriptions and observations on linguistic ideology and subordination; it's hard to overstate the magisterial breadth of this book, which considers a vast number of linguistic studies, media analyses, close reads of examples of language use, reviews of quantitative data, and even legal documents, all the while staying wonderfully brief and readable because of the simple prose. Particularly virtuosic is the first chapter, written in an entertaining yet forceful style with convincing reasoning drawing from Lippi-Green's superb juxtaposition of many sources from culture and media. Sadly, this is a book that doesn't quite reach its full potential, as the prose begins to fray at its edges after the first few chapters, even as the scope of analysis remains ambitious. While the intellectual quality stays more or less stable, its conveyance begins to suffer as the prose disintegrates with more and more careless and tepid ends to chapters, along with typos getting gradually more frequent. Still, the ideas here are as essential as they are important.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential read for anyone interested in linguistic justice. It shines a light on how discrimination is still perpetuated and upheld by outmoded and oppressive prescriptive language instruction. It uses material from history, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and a variety of other fields to explore the privileging of standardized language ideologies. If you are interested in current trends in language education and writing development like translanguaging, this read will give you a firm basis for understanding.

[Ironically Nostalgic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altogether one of the most thorough surveys of language use and misuse in contemporary society. Standard American English does not exist, but the power of such an idealized image was and is used to sculpt many of the lasting legacies of discrimination.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read but could have been more engagingly written.

[Avi Penhollow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Examining language variety from a linguistic perspective is perennial for teachers of Englisg Language Arts. I will provide a better description later.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE book on Linguistic Discrimination. The chapter on cinema is particularly fascinating.

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clásico.

stan lippi-green

[Marlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eye-opening book in which the author "scrutinizes American attitudes towards language." One point the author makes is that people are prejudiced towards accents not because of the the accent but because of who/what it represents. Very interesting and fairly light reading. Megan, you should totally read this considering your field of teaching.

[Robyn]

This book has been on my list for a few years. Glad I'm finally getting around to it because it's awesome. Right up my alley with discussions of language attitudes and stereotypes of speakers of different languages.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my dissertation (on language attitudes) and am coming back to it after a dozen years as an editor. It gives me a whole new perspective. It's fascinating and very readable (this is a strong compliment for an academic book).

[Joean · Rating 4 out of 5]

made me think twice about what "proper english" means and about who has any right to determine what that even is!

[Gary McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. But it's still a textbook.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

for my "Language as Power" class. so far, fascinating if linguistically dense.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic in sociolinguistics that provides a readable understanding of language, accent, prejudice, and discrimination in the U.S. context.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truth.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough on ESL learners, but very well written.

[Kat Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, particularly the chapter on AAVE.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read on standard language ideology and the way it functions in the U.S. Lippi-Green's chapters on the myths around accent and "standard" English were particularly important.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful