Dialects and Discrimination: Literature & Language Research Paper

Dialects and Discrimination
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Dialects and Discrimination
The use of non-standard language variations like dialects and accents can cause discrimination in many social issues. According to Bowie and Morkel (2006, p. 147), to understand for dialect discrimination we need to address the social values that are associated with language users. This is due to the association of language use with racial and regional orientation, age, gender, and educational achievement therefore influencing equality in social and economic matters (Baumgarten and Du Bois, 2019, p. 86). Some of the social areas where people get discriminated because of their dialects include schools, hospitals, and courts. As a result of these indexical ties associated with linguistic and other forms of discrimination, AAE users are usually disqualified in admission interviews and graded poorly in language due to the use of Standard English as a measure of intelligence. In the medical care delivery, miscommunication is a significant factor in the quality service for dialectic patients due to the need for interpreters. Dialect discrimination is also practiced in courts as AAE witnesses may be perceived as non-communicative and unreliable. Existence of the vice is not something that can be under looked. Despite understanding how variations in dialects affect victims, how well can it be overcome? How does it manifest in our social contexts? This paper analyzes the various contexts affected by linguistic discrimination, its effects to the victims and the various ways to mitigate its effect on social equality.
This paper addresses the different social and economical areas where a person’s dialect and other characteristics of language use is used as a reason for discrimination and how the society can reduce the stigma around the use of non-standard language variants. The main areas where people can see discrimination in social life as a result of dialect are education, health care and the justice system. As a way to show the extent of dialectal discrimination in social settings, this paper focuses on how dialect discrimination is used in education, health, and Justice systems.
* Dialect discrimination in education sector
The way education ministries structure the curriculum, especially English language, it is based on the standard English which places the students with accents at a disadvantage. According to Tamasi and Antieau (2015, pp 72-77), although the curriculum is not meant to discriminate against accented students, it is used to increase the level of discrimination through interviews, and grading. This standardization of English makes the use of other language variations be used as an indication of the level of education and understanding in school and job seeking. In his Ted Talk- ‘There is no such thing as Correct English’ Barta (2016) explains how formal education is responsible for the language discrimination experienced by African American English (AAE) speakers. Thus, speakers of AAE are usually considered uneducated despite their language use being systematic, intricate, and communicative in expressing the intended message. The idea that AAE or other non-standard variations are ...