Roger W. Shuy's 1988 Documentary 'American Tongues'
LING 105: Language in Daily Life
Spring Semester 2015
Lei Pak Nin, Will (plei4)
Squib #2: Report on the video “American Tongues”
Date: 12 February 2015
American Tongues is a 1988 documentary made to illustrate some of the dialects of American English. It features commentaries from several groups of professionals, such as sociolinguists Roger Shuy and Walt Wolfram, columnists Mike Harden and Molly Ivins, therapist Dennis Becker and historian A.C. Greene. The most prominent commentators are Walt Wolfram and Molly Ivins, who addressed sociolinguistic attitudes and stereotypes about American dialects.
Below are the biographical notes of some of the commentators:
Roger W. Shuy (born 1931, Akron, Ohio) is an American linguist best known for his work in sociolinguistics and forensic linguistics. He received his BA from Wheaton College in 1952, his MA at Kent State University in 1954, and his PhD at Case Western Reserve University in 1962, where he studied regional dialectology. (Roger Shuy, 2015) …show more content…
He was one of the early pioneers in the study of urban African American English through his work in Detroit in 1969. Since the 1960s he has authored or co-authored 20 books and more than 300 articles on variation in American English. He was an active participant in the 1996 debate surrounding the Oakland Ebonics controversy, supporting the legitimacy of African American English as a systematic language system (Walt Wolfram,
Spring Semester 2015
Lei Pak Nin, Will (plei4)
Squib #2: Report on the video “American Tongues”
Date: 12 February 2015
American Tongues is a 1988 documentary made to illustrate some of the dialects of American English. It features commentaries from several groups of professionals, such as sociolinguists Roger Shuy and Walt Wolfram, columnists Mike Harden and Molly Ivins, therapist Dennis Becker and historian A.C. Greene. The most prominent commentators are Walt Wolfram and Molly Ivins, who addressed sociolinguistic attitudes and stereotypes about American dialects.
Below are the biographical notes of some of the commentators:
Roger W. Shuy (born 1931, Akron, Ohio) is an American linguist best known for his work in sociolinguistics and forensic linguistics. He received his BA from Wheaton College in 1952, his MA at Kent State University in 1954, and his PhD at Case Western Reserve University in 1962, where he studied regional dialectology. (Roger Shuy, 2015) …show more content…
He was one of the early pioneers in the study of urban African American English through his work in Detroit in 1969. Since the 1960s he has authored or co-authored 20 books and more than 300 articles on variation in American English. He was an active participant in the 1996 debate surrounding the Oakland Ebonics controversy, supporting the legitimacy of African American English as a systematic language system (Walt Wolfram,