20898045 General Linguistics 178 : Blog 1: "You can tell a lot about someone by the way they speak"

Week 1: Language, Identity, Bias and Privilege

Monday 6th March 2017



Topic 1: You can tell a lot about someone by the way they speak...



  This statement could be considered true in that you can tell a lot about someone by the way they speak, but this does not necessarily substantiate that all that you tell about this someone is true. In this statement , you may be able to tell a lot about someone, but this does not necessarily mean you mean you can assume certain characteristics or generalisations about who they are, their history, culture, social-economic status or education .

Often, through hearing a person's accent, their use of language, grammar and vocabulary, a person may assume or judge with a stereotypical view, certain qualities, characteristics, a person's lifestyle, standard of living, work ethic and values etc.. of that person. One can often stereotype a person with a certain view or perspective simply due to their capability and  use of a language, their vocabulary, accent and spelling/grammar. One's specific exposure to the media, society, their family/ childhood upbringing, values and environment all shape one's subconscious and parts of their concious in the way they may or may not stereotype person's according to the way in which they speak.



Stereotypical views usually have a specific origination and may have some historical evidence or elements of truth to them. For example, the majority of the black South African population were oppressed and discriminated against in financial, societal, social, economic and legal aspects opportunities by the racist policies implemented during the apartheid era. This was due to the ruling government's apartheid regime preceding the 1994 democratic election in South Africa. Consequentially these oppressive, racist and restrictive policies in the economic sector and education sector lead to many black South Africans living in either low standards of living or extreme poverty  and low level income. In addition to this, the people whom the government classified as ' black' according to the apartheid’s classification system, were prohibited from receiving integrated education with white people and education opportunities equal to white people .This lead to an ever widening gap of inequality in economic status and circumstance between  black South Africans and some of the privileged white persons.

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This injustice and discrimination continued  for many years under the apartheid regime and became viewed and considered a 'norm' in South African society and the effects of this injustice are still seen in South African society today. This consequentially would have been a factor leading to a racist stereotypical view  of  black South Africans, who have a black South African accent that many people still live and hold to that view to this present day. This stereotypical view may include the assumption that all black South Africans with a black South African accent have a low standard of living due to a low income level due to unequal employment opportunities under the apartheid regime. This view may also include that majority of black South Africans may not have had equal education opportunities, therefore considered in some societal views, less ' intelligent' or educated than those privileged advantaged racial groups who were given better education opportunities by the apartheid government and through this education opportunity have been taught and  influenced to speak with a grammatically correct standardised English. This could lead to form a stereotypical and racist view that implies that the level of intelligence of a person who speaks non-standard English with a a black South African accent would be less than one who speaks standard English with a white South African accent.



Unfortunately due to the oppressive discriminatory apartheid regime, the inequality and poverty became the circumstance of many of the majority of black South African's and solidified the breeding grounds of the stereotypical views of many other racial groups upon black South Africans which was formed under the apartheid regime. Some of these stereotypical views still carry through to present day. Therefore one may say the basis of some stereotypical views are not completely unfounded or based on fallacy or false historical evidence or untruths. It is rather a stereotype about black South Africans which has partly originated from a  reality which has been and now is unfairly applied or assumed in a generalised way to or of a person, simply due to the way in which they speak, in this situation those who speak with a black South African accent.



One can imply much about a person from the way the speak due to the historical cultural and economic implications their accent or the way they speak might present due to historical evidence and majority statistics, however it is a deception to assume these generalised  stereotypical implications fall upon all people of a specific grouping, although they may be true to some individual s in that grouping. Someone may have the same accent or way of speech to another of the same racial  grouping with the circumstances the generalised stereotypical view has of that way of speech, but would have had different circumstances or opportunities in finances, education, and employment. In this way, the stereotyped view of the circumstances or level of intelligence etc. of persons with that specific way of speech is challenged and no longer applicable to all people who speak in the way the stereotypical view  assumes it to be.



In conclusion, one can see the basis of historical and cultural evidence and majority statisical  viewpoints which are implied by the way one may speak, however one must also recognise that this cannot be applicable as a generalised view to all person's who speak this way as their historical and social cirucmstance may differ to that of the person first encountered and would be stereotypical.

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