In Chapter 3, Elaine Chaika discusses the style of speech people use and how certain stylistic factors included in style can change the situation.  For example, voice quality is one of these elements that changes the situation. According to Chaika people are born with the ability to speak in numerous different ranges, but we just tend to stick to the one we grow up with and become comfortable with.

If our voice quality is something we choose to adopt, then it can be assumed that so some extent the same goes for  dialects and accents. Dialects and accents are often key factors of social status, identity, gender, and location, thus the reason there can be so many for a single language.

When a person lives in a certain area or socializes with a certain group of people, then language similar to dress and actions become a norm. Thus being born and socialized with this group and in this place, it is expected to behave a certain way, use certain words, and blend in with the group.

However, if voice quality is adopted and dialects are socialized- doesn't that make these two factors simply a norm???

30 Rock - Carmen Chao's indeterminate ethnicity

While catching up on one of my 30 Rock fix this past weekend, I found myself intrigued by Vanessa Minillo’s codeswitching-character, Carmen Chao. Codeswitching being the idea that one can change their dialect (or register*) to another in order to meet the demands of the situation.

The entertaining character plays off of one’s innate ability to hear foreign dialects or accents and place them. However, when faced with Carmen Chao’s ability to master so many different dialects and registers, the characters of 30 Rock and its viewers are left wondering what nationality the woman actually is. Many Americans only speak English and for those who attempt to learn another language, learning the language is only half of the battle.

Mastering the intricacies of language and its accents are extremely difficult, because all human beings are so ingrained with the rules of their first language. Something as tiny one’s puffs of air (aspiration) while speaking can be difference between a realistic register and butchering a foreign language. 

There are tons of these tiny little aspects of language, which the ear can tell but most do not have a name for. And on top of that, all of these details are different from language to language!! So this makes me wonder- is it even possible to master your first language, let alone another language?

*Register- a spoken variety of language connected to a certain role or situation.

Michaels, L., Fey, T., Klein, M., Miner, D. & Carlock., R. (Producer). 2011. !Que Sopresa! [ 30 Rock ]. New York, NY: NBC.