My linguistic practices are a
reflection of an eclectic group of influences.
The most obvious contributor to my linguistic style is my geographic
location. It is no secret that I speak with a “New York” accent. I was born and
raised in Queens, one of the most culturally diverse places in the United
States. Both of my parents were also
raised in Queens and, therefore, were the original sources of my dialect.
However, my grandparents have very diverse linguistic histories. I have added some diversity by traveling the United State and Europe and living in other states for short periods of time.
My ancestors on my father’s
side included people from all over Ireland. My paternal grandmother was born in
Limerick, Ireland. She was very poor and stopped attending school in the eighth
grade in order to go to work and help support her family. ‘Grandma Hickey’ spoke
fluent Gaelic as a child but has since forgotten most of the language due to
lack of use and exposure. She moved to the United States at the age of sixteen
and began working to send money back to Ireland. She lived in a convent for a
few years and cleaned it at night in order to repay their hospitality. Grandma
speaks with a slight brogue, watered down after years of living in the United
States. My paternal grandfather was born in the Bronx, New York to Irish
parents, specifically the Derry area of Northern Ireland. ‘Grandpa Hickey’ spoke
in the stereotypical Bronx dialect, but he never spoke with an Irish brogue
like his mother ‘Nanny’ did. Grandpa always teased me because I pronounced the
number three as ‘three’ unlike his Bronx-Irish version that sounded
more like ‘tree.’ Nanny had a
distinguishably different accent from that of Grandma because of their varying
Irish heritages. Whenever I recall
things that Grandma or Nanny said to me, I always ‘hear’ it with their
respective brogues. Although Grandma
speaks with a slight accent, it has had little effect on my linguistic
practices or those of my father. Dad’s linguistic style reflects his Queens
upbringing by an Irish mother and a Bronx-reared father, coupled with his own lack
of higher education. Of all these influences, the Queens accent is the only one
I adopted.
My ancestors on my mother’s
side descended from various European countries. My maternal grandfather ‘Poppy’
was born in Harlem, New York to Italian immigrant parents. He died when I was
seven, but his linguistic practices are very vivid to me. Poppy spoke fluent
Italian. I recall the loud Italian phone conversations between him and his
sister because they only conversed in Italian. Additionally, anytime he was
angry, he only spoke, or shouted, in Italian! However, my mother does not speak
a word of Italian. My maternal grandmother ‘YaYa’ would not allow my
grandfather to teach their children how to speak Italian because she neither
understand, nor spoke it herself. YaYa was worried they would talk about her in
Italian and she would be in the dark about the conversation. As a result of her paranoia, we lost out on an
opportunity to be a bilingual family. YaYa admits that she now regrets the fact
that her kids were not taught Italian. YaYa was born in the United States to
American parents. Her father was of Italian descent, and her mother was of
German descent but reared by a Parisian stepmother. YaYa has a very diverse
linguistic history, but her Brooklyn upbringing has had the most profound
effect on her linguistic style. YaYa speaks ‘Brooklynese’ as she affectionately
calls it, and she passed on these idiosyncrasies to my mother. I have spent my
entire adult life pointing out my mother’s gross overuse of the ‘intrusive r.’ My
mother ‘Laurer’s’ (Laura’s) favorite pastime is sitting on the
‘sofer’ (sofa) drinking ‘soder’ (soda) in her ‘pajamers’ (pajamas). I suffered from the ‘intrusive r’ disease
until I found a cure in college. From what I can tell, mom picked up the
‘intrusive r’ from YaYa. I assume this is part of the ‘Brooklynese’ dialect. As
I mentioned earlier, the ‘intrusive r’ was once a part of my linguistic style
but has since disappeared. The only
lasting effect of my mother’s linguistic practices is again, my basic Queens
accent.
I imagine my Queens accent
would be thicker had I not attended college out-of-state. I spent almost four
years living in the Ohio Valley. The Ohio Valley has a very different dialect
from the one I was exposed to in Queens. Ohio Valley residents speak with a
Western Pennsylvania accent. Their vowels are pronounced very differently from
those of a New Yorker, and they also use different slang. I definitely picked up traces of a Western
Pennsylvania dialect while living in Ohio. However, because my time there was
so limited, I quickly dropped the accent and slang when I returned to New York.
It was nonetheless a contributing factor to my linguistic history. In addition,
while I was an undergraduate, I spent a semester abroad in Gaming, Austria.
Everyone around me spoke German. Our campus was a little American ghetto where
English was the only language. Every weekend I traveled to a different country
and was exposed to countless languages. I always learned basic phrases in the
language of the country I was visiting. I often find myself answering “yes” or “no”
questions and saying “please” and “thank you” in German! It was something that
stuck with me. This broad exposure to
various languages is just another feather in the hat of my linguistic history.
Recently, I have made another attempt at literacy in Spanish. My first experience with learning
Spanish started in middle school and ended my junior year of high school. I was
always an above average Spanish student. Ironically, I have learned more about
the English language as a result of studying Spanish. I am grateful for the
opportunity to learn Spanish because I think it is very important to be
bilingual. If I had a better grasp of language, I would attempt to learn more
languages, but I find that learning a second language is quite a challenge. Regardless
of my level of Spanish mastery, the impact that studying Spanish has had on my
linguistic abilities will be everlasting.
The last piece of my linguistic
puzzle belongs to media. Music, television, and literature have all had an
impact on me. I included literature with media because, lately, we do as much
reading on computers as we do in physical books. My linguistic style continues to
transform as a result of the television shows and movies I watch, the extremely
diverse music I listen to, and the endless books and periodicals I read.
My linguistic history is
diverse and complex. It continues to grow and change with each passing year. I am constantly being exposed to varying
influences on my linguistic abilities. My graduate classes on English grammar
and linguistics were a huge source of information and taught me much
about the English language in a short period of time. Additionally, spending most of the summer in Northern California and traveling the West Coast has exposed me to more dialects in English, but I doubt I will ever use the word 'hella.' Currently, I am leading high school ESL students towards fluency and literacy in English while they provide me with a refresher-course in Spanish! I also have a daughter in Kindergarten who is just beginning to read
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