One fall while I was teaching what was my signature course, Language &
Discrimination, I had an unusual conversation with a student. He asked a
question that took some courage.
“Okay,” he said in class discussion. “I resisted, but I can see now that
my reactions to certain kinds of errors [sic] are not based on fact but on
ideology and emotion. Knowing that, I can still discriminate on the basis
of language. I’m within my rights doing that. Right?”
To which there was only one response: of course. In so far as his
behavior stays within the parameters of the law (he couldn’t refuse
employment to someone because of an Irish or Indonesian accent, for
example), he was free to do as he wished. My hope was that he finished
the book (and the course) with a wider understanding and perspective, so
that he didn’t rationalize his choices to himself or anyone else.
I hope that and more for everyone who comes across this book. I hope
too that when others try to use language ideology to silence you, your
family, your community, you will hear Eleanor Roosevelt reminding you:
no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. And then you will
speak up out of conviction, but armed with facts.
Please take advantage of additional materials (a full bibliography, a
glossary, additional links and supplementary materials as well as
discussion questions) available at the companion website
http://www.routledge.com/cw/lippi-green. You’ll see the logo in the margin
when there is content on the website that is specific to that particular point
of discussion.
Notes
1 Since the first edition of English with an Accent appeared in 1997,
linguists (along with colleagues in anthropology, psychology,
education, media studies and other disciplines) have produced a great
deal of work on the linguistic, sociocultural and ideological aspects of
English as it evolves and changes. Between 1999 and 2010 I added
more than eight hundred books, chapters, articles, essays, newspaper