Dear All,
For this blog, I want you to look at the following websites:
http://vaiden.net/convert.html
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/southernese.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English
Then I would like for you to discuss one or more of these sites' treatment of Southern dialect. Does it treat the South as a monolith? Does it utilize a "strategy of condescention" (as mentioned on page 208 of your reading), or does it respect Southern dialects?
There is one big rule for this blog: You must cite Rosina Lippi-Green ("Hillbillies, Rednecks, and Southern Bells") at least once in the blog, and you must integrate the quotation artfully into the paper -- no dropping! (If you missed class and do not know what "dropping" is, read section MLA-3 on how to integrate sources into your writing.)
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... Still haven't figured out where to put it
ReplyDeleteHeritage
While going thought the various web sites at the bottom of one of the sites I found a disclaimer with the following quote: “Oh, I’m glad we live in the Land of Cotton Where Heritage is not forgotten; Move Away, Move Away; If you don’t like Dixieland” (Collins). At first glance of the website, everything from the phony electric banjo to the poor graphics lead the viewer to believe it is just another joke site. A web site implying Southerners have a deficient and uneducated language. The site even has a “Southern Dialect Converter”, so that “Yankees” who took a wrong turn can understand the savage tongue. This is not the case. This tacky web site is one Southerners way of expressing his proud southern heritage, his “indefeasible right to be southern” (215) while being able to make a few jokes about himself. Though much of the web site is just for fun, the author takes time to express his insightful views on southern political issues and explain that a person’s language is part of their heritage, it is not something that should be disrespected. Southern language is not a uniform mass, monolith, but an expression of a person’s background and deserves dignity. This site is a great representation of the south in its appearance, with its “BUBBA SEEL OF APPROVIL”, and repulsive music. The ignorant view thinks “oh great another stupid site”, but after taking some time and actually reading the site, one finds that there are intellectual and rational statements under all the bad grammar and spelling. In the article “Hillbillies, rednecks, and southern bells” the writer Lippi-Green acknowledges that “southerners exhibit insecurity about their language and willingness to accept responsibility for poor communication or bad language, but they do so only when in contact with the direct criticism of the northerner” (213). It is the Northerners belief that their language is superior which leads them to condemn a Southern tongue as simple and laughable. Southerners are proud of their heritage and background, and “clearly it is difficult for northerners and mainstream language speakers to take seriously the idea that the south could be content with itself in terms of language” (214). The south has a strong heritage that has lasted many generations, the idea that this will change if they are criticized and belittled means that Northerners do not know very much about the South.