Accent, standard language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in the courts

Abstract

Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act clearly forbids an employer to discriminate against persons of color for reasons of personal or customer preference. Similarly, a qualified job applicant may not be rejected on the basis of linguistic traits linked to national origin. In contrast to racial discrimination, however, an employer has considerable latitude in matters of language, provided in part by a judicial system which recognizes in theory the link between language and social identity, but in practice is often confounded by blind adherence to a standard language ideology. The nature and repercussions of this type of linguistic discrimination are here explored. (Language and law, accent, discrimination, standard language ideology, critical language studies)

Attitudes of native and nonnative speakers of English toward various regional and social U.S. English accents

“…Fairclough (1989) claims that it is the work of a dominant group who wishes to keep separate the empoweredand the powerless for many reasons, many of which are to gain economic and political power. One way to achieve this is by gaining a consensus that a dominant language is the standard, and standard language ideology is a major route for establishing consent among the public of one variety as superior over others (Lippi-Green, 1994). Lippi-Green tells us that consent of a dominant language as standard is made possible through a variety of institutions.…”

“…Ungrammatical street talk by black professional athletes, and other professions such as the music industry, has come to be accepted.. .The dilemma is that it doesn't make much difference for the black professional athletes, etc., who talk this way-they're wealthy men who are going to live well off their bodily skills whether or not they can talk at all, much less correctly (Bob Greene's sports colimm, Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1979in Lippi-Green, 1994 Gov. Clinton, you attended Oxford University in England and Yale Law School in the Ivy League, two of the finest institutions of learning in the world.…”

“…So how come you still talk like a hillbilly? (Mike Royko's syndicated "Opinion" column, Ann Arbor News, October 11,1992in Lippi-Green, 1994.…”

“…This preparation, no doubt, involves practicing pronunciation by using tapes, most of which has as their model a standard accent. In addition, since education is closely tied to what our notions of "right" and "wrong" language are (Lippi-Green, 1994), it is not unreasonable to assimie that NNS come to the U.S. with specific ideas of what constitutes correct and incorrect English.…”

“…Wolfi-am and Schilling-Estes (1998) point out that while pubHc discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, and social class is not pubhcly acceptable, it appears that discrimination on linguistic grounds is, even though linguistic differences may be associated with ethnicity, rehgion or class. Lippi-Green (1994) has pointed out that linguistic discrimination indeed does take place as it relates to employment practices, and that this discrimination is even upheld through decisions made by the courts. For example, in one case, the court upheld a decisionmade by a broadcast companynot to hire a man because he spokewith a Hawaiian Creole accent, hi this case, thejudge credited the testimony of speech experts that standard Englishshould be used by radio broadcasters.…”