Do Negative Stereotypes Translate Across the oceans
By Jalyn Radziminski
Negative stereotypes about the way we speak survives and translates across the oceans in one form or another based on language (linguistic) and social contexts. Language discrimination and the enforcement of the standard in both Japan and America are threatening dialects and the cultures of minorities who speak those dialects and Radziminski brings to attention societal perceptions of dialects in those countries. With reflection of studies by renowned linguists such as John Baugh, Vershawn Young, Susan Tamasi, and Harumi Miyake, Radziminski uses their logic and studies to propose a new, educational pedagogies that promote different not deficient attitudes of dialects and promotes full acceptance of dialectal diversity on an international level. She displays language discrimination and imperialistic qualities of standard language against linguistic minorities such as African Americans who speak Ebonics to negative stereotypes of those who speak in Osaka dialects to the ban of the Okinawa dialect in Japan. Radziminski emphasizes the connection of dialect and identity and how promotion of diverse dialects could benefit the professional world.