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

This book does a good job of calling attention to, examining and exemplifying the problem of language discrimination in the United States. This is of course very positive as far as it goes. I have, however, a few minor comments on how this study might have gone further: (1) The author doesn't discuss the issue of varying levels of intelligibility of accents. All accents are not created equal. Some are easier to understand, others present real comprehension problems. For example, an accent that has consistent vowel values (say, a French or Swedish accent) tends to be easier to understand than one with unpredictable vowel values (some varieties of Chinese English, such as Taiwan English, are notorious for this, and can be quite difficult to follow). Non-Englishlike prosody, e.g. failing to stress new and important information, but then putting stress on less important function words like "to" and "her", can really confuse a listener. And the more of a burden you put on the listener, the less patience you can expect from them. (2) I disagree with the author that European accents are "never" the target of discrimination. You find them made fun of in all kinds of 19th and 20th century literature, e.g. Sinclair Lewis's _Main Street_ (which parodies immigrant German and Swedish accents in Minnesota in the 1910s). Notably, it is farmers and other humble folk who are often the targets of such parodies. The author is thus right in zeroing in on *power* relations as the key issue, probably even more than intelligibility. We are less willing to work hard to understand someone who is viewed as less powerful than ourselves or the group we identify with, and tend to be more patient with those we look up to. For a bit of perspective, think of the deference and patience many of us will show when listening to Stephen Hawking "speaking" through his synthesizer, though this kind of speech is considerably more unnatural and difficult to process than many foreign accents. We're less willing to work as hard when someone seems less worthwhile and more expendable to us. A very simple principle, but its roots are deep and ramifications far-reaching. (3) This book fails to address the *reasons* for the typical US lack of empathy toward and interest in not just foreigners, but anyone who is too different from the mainstream. We learn to shun or fear differentness, and to deal with it by avoiding any reference to it, hiding from it, trying to pretend it's not there. This is *not* the way to bridge relations between two groups prone to mutual misunderstanding. I suggest that comedian Russell Peters' head-on approach is much more effective - and fun. (4) I would classify this book more as persuasive discourse rather than an objective study. The advantage of this is a consistent point of view and stand on the main issues - additionally justified by the author's being on the side of "right". The drawback is that this kind of work is unlikely to voice any defense of the o

This book explores the many issues surrounding language ideology and discrimination in the United States through providing a thorough discussion and empirical examination of the subjective issues which so often permeate such a loaded topic. It is an excellent read for anyone who is seriously interested in either language or subordination or both. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Pluralistic perspectives in America. Well-written and comprehensive.

This book is an excellent treatment of the complex issue of how discrimination is enacted and perpetuated by linguistic means. Lippi-Green examines in detail specific cases from a number of sources to show that bias is often disguised even from those who show it.Though the book is at times on the technical side, Lippi-Green makes very good use of analogies likely to make this important topic clear and accessible to a wide audience.