I have always found accents and dialects very interesting and have always tried to guess where people are from based on the way they speak. I may find this so interesting because I, myself have a dreaded New Jersey accent. As I don't find it to be that prominent, when I came to college I found that there was a definite difference in the way I pronounced some words as compared to my roommate from Connecticut. I believe also that dialects can lead to a lot of pre concieved notions about someone that are ususally false.
The biggest mistake I believe that is made when talking about dialects are the assumptions that are made about someone simply determined by their accent. I will admit that before I came to Richmond the only exposure I had to people who spoke with a southern twang was on television. This was obviously not the best thing, because of the stereotypes that are portrayed that ususally go along with such an accent. Not all southern people go hunting on the weekends and have 4 teeth. Now obviously I was more intelligent than to think that this was actually the case, but in the way people are portrayed through the media one may be misled.
I think accents are important because they are part of who we are as people. The easiest way to recognize someone, after their physical appearance is by their voice. For example if you call a number hoping to talk to a friend, simply by hearing the person on the other line say hello, one can usually recognize if they have reached the right person or not. This however can lead to errors as well. It is important not to judge someone you are meeting for the first time simply by their appearance or the sound of their voice. However it is human nature to relate something unfamiliar to something familiar and therefore avoiding prejudice can sometimes be very difficult.
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