Accent

recesses of their mind. However, this is not an idea that most immigrant children are exposed to. Instead, because it is seen as more socially acceptable, they are made to embrace celibacy and abstinence. In her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents”, Julie Alvarez narrates the difficulties faced by the Garcia girls growing up bicultural in the United States. It chronicles the transitions they made as they strived to create an identity that was both Latina and American. Alvarez uses the…

socially acceptable, they are made to embrace celibacy and abstinence. ( characterized by general statements of “..not until after your married”, and the classic “ Did you go behind the palm trees”). In her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents”, Julie Alvarez narrates the difficulties the Garcia girls face growing up bicultural in the…

In Julia Alvarez’s novel How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Yolanda, one of the main characters as well as one of the narrators, is a woman who is unlike most women of her culture. One can see how Yolanda is different when she bashes her cousin for being all done up. When Yolanda sees her cousin again for the first time again she recalls that “In her designer pantsuit and frosted, blown-out hair, Lucinda looks like a Dominican magazine model, a look that has always made Yolanda think of…

Julia Alvarez presents the theme of familial relationships throughout the novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. One major aspect of the familial relationships is the expectations that are put on Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofía as they are thrown into a new world and become apart of this new lifestyle, while also not losing their roots. Mamí repeatedly illustrates the pressures that she is putting on the girls. Laura is more focused on making sure everything looks right, rather than…

unexplainable loss. This elusive quality seems to defy interpretation in its foreshadowing of Sandi’s breakdown in her adult years, and reflects the mysticism around Sandi’s character as a whole. In Julia Alvarez’s novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the doll figures largely during the pivotal moments in Sandi’s life, whether they are the static representations of the Virgin Mary statue, or a Barbie. In an attempt to pinpoint how Sandi has “invented what [she] needs to survive,” I…

Accent associations “By trying to change your accent, you are rejecting something of who you are” (Elliot). Carl Elliot's article, ”The Perfect Voice" and Raymond Hernandez’s article, "When Accent Becomes an Issue," offer perspectives on the effect of accent on perceptions of class and social status. Both authors describe the connection between identity and job title in relation to accents. However, the author’s opinions differ in that Elliot believes the role of accents is…

multicultural society with an abundance of accents just as diverse as its people. The documentary American Tongues explores these differences in speech and how exactly they affect and shape the lives of American speakers. It does this through an social examination of a few American accents, accompanied by commentary from professional linguistic experts. The documentary emphasized that accents can either bring us Americans together or set us apart. The accent one has can reflect a person’s social…

In her work "How You Say It," Katherine Kinzler explores the intriguing concept of accent preference in babies and children. Kinzler argues that from a young age, children exhibit a preference for individuals who share their own accent. This preference, she suggests, is deeply rooted in societal cues, media influence, and evolutionary psychology. Kinzler's assertion that children prefer individuals with their accent is supported by various studies outlined in her work. One notable study involved…

different concepts must be defined. This essay discusses the differences and similarities of the concepts of accent and dialect. While the first part of this essay deals with the term accent, the second part deals with its contrast term, the dialect. Lastly, the Received Pronunciation accent and the Cockney dialect are compared on the basis of their grammatical and phonological features. An accent can be defined as “a particular way of pronouncing a language, seen as typical of an individual, a…

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…