Back to the Syllabus

Due Wed 20 Dec.

Write a brief essay that considers the following questions:

• What is your native language?
• Do you speak a second language, or a third, or more?
• Where and when did you acquire the language(s) that you speak?
• Did you ever consciously experience a major change in the way you speak one or more of your language(s)?
• Is your linguistic background homogeneous or heterogeneous? IOW, did /do the significant people around you as you were acquiring language, or today, speak all pretty much the same way, or are there important differences among these people?
• Would you say that you have an "accent"? How would you describe it?
• Do you feel that you speak "correctly" or "incorrectly"? How about your family members, co-workers, and other significant people: do they speak "correctly" or "incorrectly"? Or does the issue never come up?
• Do you find yourself using language differently in different social situations? (This could be in terms of accent, vocabulary, grammar, or other factors.)
• When you hear standard American English on TV or radio, are you conscious of differences between your speech and that standard?