Dialects and Accents

The passage I chose is based on native and nonnative speakers because it interest me on what other speakers through the country think about accents, and what they infer about the people depending on the accent or dialect. I agree with the characteristics of dialect that Chaika mentions in the beginning of the article. Chaika(1982) states that dialect is “the way words are pronounced, syntax, and word choice between speakers, in addition to differences in timbre, tempo, and paralinguistic features.”(p.479) When you are focusing on just the pronunciation that’s when you are talking about the accent. Now I know the difference between dialect and accent because before I could not tell you the difference. The pronunciation in the US English is the major factor to distinguishing the regional english. Another factor to distinguish the different dialects/accents are the media and popular stereotypes. People will judge based on the the group they think you belong and the stereotypes that goes along with them. The research that was made didn’t no focus on the fact if the nonnative speakers already had knowledge on the different dialect based on movies or media. They also mention the fact that they put people to listen to fourteen different voice recordings of people fro a certain community and identify what their background was. No one was able to correctly identify the persons background. THis shows that just because you are from a certain back does not mean that you speak a certain way, this shows that you adapt to your surroundings and you end up talking and sounding like your speech community. The article goes on to research other things about the dialect and accents. if you want to read more I put the Apa format as well as the link.