Summary and Connection: In Shalini Shankar’s article, she examines how language ideologies, class, race, and gender shape language use for Desi (South Asian American) teenagers in a Silicon Valley high school. In a school context, practices of status making and exclusion are commonplace through talk and social activity. Shankar contrasts two distinct Desi teen high school styles: the mainstream popular teens and the marginalized “FOB,” or “Fresh Off The Boat.” However, in her study, “FOBs” are not actual “fresh off the boats,” rather the term is coined by the upper middle-class, popular Desi teens to use as a label for the middle class Sikh Punjabis the popular Desi teens marginalize and distance themselves from based on their ways of dressing,
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This connects to Bucholtz’s piece on white nerds and how the nerds are marginalized from their “cool,” white counterparts due to their choice to use Super Standard English and dress in fashion that deviates from the norm. The stereotype that FOBs simply code switch loudly in Punjabi is what elicits negative judgment and enables “popular” teens to appear more model. Shankar argues that FOB styles are far more complex and nuanced than code switching. This connects to Ahearn arguing that AAE is more than sloppy SAE with slang, instead it is rule governed with its own linguistic system. Within FOB styles, there is “Desi Accented English (DAE),” a language variety where teens index insider humor. DAE is a way of speaking that indexes a lack of cultural knowledge about common aspects of American life and contains atypical grammatical constructions and lexical elements that may not be shared by other speakers. Speakers of DAE index their knowledge of stereotypical ways in which actual FOBs speak, and indicate that they consider themselves to be far enough from this stereotype to use it …show more content…
FOBs are well aware that “popular” teens ignore them or treat them with disdain, but they embrace it through humor. Using FOB styles is a source of humor and solidarity for boys and girls in an otherwise dull and alienating school environment. FOBs are able to maintain a sense of private conversation in what is otherwise a public space where they would be heard. This connects to Barrett’s article where the Latino workers would use Spanish to talk about their bosses behind their backs. Shankar also concludes females avoid using profanity while males tend to use in excessively in group settings. She also discovers that females use Punjabi to embellish details when recounting stories to friends while males used it to discuss violence. These findings relate to Ochs’ gender ideologies and gendered differences in speaking. In sum, Shankar documents how students’ affiliation with certain social categories is reflected in their lexical, grammatical, and stylistic use of English in both conscious and unconscious
This connects to Bucholtz’s piece on white nerds and how the nerds are marginalized from their “cool,” white counterparts due to their choice to use Super Standard English and dress in fashion that deviates from the norm. The stereotype that FOBs simply code switch loudly in Punjabi is what elicits negative judgment and enables “popular” teens to appear more model. Shankar argues that FOB styles are far more complex and nuanced than code switching. This connects to Ahearn arguing that AAE is more than sloppy SAE with slang, instead it is rule governed with its own linguistic system. Within FOB styles, there is “Desi Accented English (DAE),” a language variety where teens index insider humor. DAE is a way of speaking that indexes a lack of cultural knowledge about common aspects of American life and contains atypical grammatical constructions and lexical elements that may not be shared by other speakers. Speakers of DAE index their knowledge of stereotypical ways in which actual FOBs speak, and indicate that they consider themselves to be far enough from this stereotype to use it …show more content…
FOBs are well aware that “popular” teens ignore them or treat them with disdain, but they embrace it through humor. Using FOB styles is a source of humor and solidarity for boys and girls in an otherwise dull and alienating school environment. FOBs are able to maintain a sense of private conversation in what is otherwise a public space where they would be heard. This connects to Barrett’s article where the Latino workers would use Spanish to talk about their bosses behind their backs. Shankar also concludes females avoid using profanity while males tend to use in excessively in group settings. She also discovers that females use Punjabi to embellish details when recounting stories to friends while males used it to discuss violence. These findings relate to Ochs’ gender ideologies and gendered differences in speaking. In sum, Shankar documents how students’ affiliation with certain social categories is reflected in their lexical, grammatical, and stylistic use of English in both conscious and unconscious