Southern Drawl Stereotypes

Different language have different tones, accents, and intonations. The English language has its own characteristics to its diction, depending from what part of the country you were raised. Those raised in the south have an accent that distinguishes them from those raised in the East coast. However, the noticeable Southern drawl comes with its own unfavorable stereotypes. Stereotypes of the Southern drawl can lead people to believe that that Southerners are either uneducated "white trash" or arrogant "southern bells". Stereotypes also exist with speakers who have learned English and whose native language is anything other than English. Many times these ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers carry heavy accents with their vocabulary, and are stigmatized …show more content…
Stereotypes are made when people who speak a specific language are automatically from a specific ethnic background. For example, Spanish speakers are often believed that they are all from Mexico, yes it is true that, "people who speak a given language share knowledge of its basic rules" (Kottak, 2015, pg. 262) , however, Spanish speakers have their own dialects, depending where they were raised. This stereotype also affects those who speak an Asiatic language, it is assumed that they are all speaking Chinese, failing to recognize that there is a difference between languages such as in: Korean, Japanese, and even between the Chinese languages from Mandarin and Cantonese. Stereotypes like these usually tend to be negative, many times these stereotypes from assumptions and judgement and not from knowledge or understanding. Stereotypes exist, especially in America, because of enculturation and assert ethnocentrisms towards people who sound different from what a "normal" American should sound like. Vocal Fry is a vocalism that allow small puffs of air to pass through the vocal cords, often used by baritone or bass singers, however, when this vocalism is added to speech pattern it can be