In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, much of the story revolves around accents. The word itself has two definitions: “a distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, especially one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class” and emphasis/to emphasize. The word comes from Latin, accentus, meaning “tone, signal, or intensity,” which is a translated loan word from the Greek prosoidia. Prosoidia is a “song sung to music,” or “intonation”. Songs stand out from regular speaking - it involves words intonated to pitches different from regular speech. Furthermore, when one speaks with an accent, the cadences of their voice are different from the status quo, so one may describe the accent as “singing.” The definition of the
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Then, I had two definitions of the word: the way you pronounced words in a language, and putting loud emphasis on a note in music. I never imagined the two definitions were intertwined, but instead had two different definitions for two different situations. Now, I understand that the two definitions are connected, with a speaking accent being an accent itself; it is something that makes one stand out, emphasizes that they are there, and shows they are foreign. A detail that stands out to me is how Dike grows up with a “seamless American accent” (Adichie 129). Aunty Uju has a noticeable Nigerian accent, while Dike, who was born in Nigeria, has an American one. Accents divide the immigrants with the people who grew up in the US and have American values as a large part of their identity. A large part of learning a language is to communicate effectively, so if an immigrant cannot speak the country’s language well, they will not be able to communicate. When someone cannot communicate, they lose much of their autonomy and agency in society. After reading Americanah, I understand that accents take away power by making them visible, and emphasizes them in
Then, I had two definitions of the word: the way you pronounced words in a language, and putting loud emphasis on a note in music. I never imagined the two definitions were intertwined, but instead had two different definitions for two different situations. Now, I understand that the two definitions are connected, with a speaking accent being an accent itself; it is something that makes one stand out, emphasizes that they are there, and shows they are foreign. A detail that stands out to me is how Dike grows up with a “seamless American accent” (Adichie 129). Aunty Uju has a noticeable Nigerian accent, while Dike, who was born in Nigeria, has an American one. Accents divide the immigrants with the people who grew up in the US and have American values as a large part of their identity. A large part of learning a language is to communicate effectively, so if an immigrant cannot speak the country’s language well, they will not be able to communicate. When someone cannot communicate, they lose much of their autonomy and agency in society. After reading Americanah, I understand that accents take away power by making them visible, and emphasizes them in