Two classes ago we spoke about how accents and different dialects help individuals pinpoint where others are from within a country. The various features of pronunciation are shared and referred to as the study of areal linguistics. How these areas develop is interesting because it is suggested that somewhere along the lines different pronunciations and dialects were adopted. Variations took hold a certain area and it became unique and fairly significant there.
I have mentioned earlier that my mother is fluent in Italian and she has a sister that lives in Northern Italy. Her sons of course, grew up Italian and have a distinct accent to American ears. One that undoubtedly and unmistakable sounds Italian. To my mother, who has the ear for Italian since she spent a majority of her childhood and teenage years there, can tell that they sounds Northern Italian and may is even able to pinpoint a major city close to where they live.
It helps at Italian restaurants as she always ends up using this little trick. As for myself, I am able to fairly easily distinguish between Spanish and Italian because of my immediate and extended family background. Mother is Italian and brother's fiance is Columbian. They have emparted to me, by the way they speak their languages, they stylistic deliveries that each language has. For the most part they are unique and easy to identify. To come back to the same point as before, the way Italian was delivered, my mother could tell Norther vs. Italian and which major city.
Using my cousins and soon to be sister-in-law I can better understand and see the Ethnic side of protecting a language. Both sets of relations speak their languages and find it important to keep speaking their languages. It is a common theme that everyone in the culture have the same language. As it is shared everyday part of the culture is consistently preserved. There are even backlashes in the United States with the amount of Spanish speakers there are. I have heard many times people say, "just speak english." However, that is how Americans should be in other cultures as well. It should be important for everyone to learn one another's language, or at least something about it.
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