The Acoustics of Identity: Linguistic Passports Beyond Empire and Essentialism

"On the basis of evidence from the case studies, the author argues: (1) Standard American English (SAE) is not neutral, but rather clearly associated with a professional, educated, ""white,"" US-American, middle class experience; (2) Even more so than grammatical knowledge, the mastery of an accent (phonological repertoire) suggests lived experience, or ""native speaker"" status, which in turn suggests the ""authenticity"" of a speaker's identity; (3) Codeswitching can be understood as both a sociocultural credential and liability; and (4) ""White/whiteness""---as a social identity---is not monolithic and does not necessarily refer to skin color. It also operates as a metaphor indexing privilege within a complex set of possibilities. A theory of acoustic identity informs contemporary debates and discussions over public and cultural policy in sectors that include education, government, and industry."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communications

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Filmer, Alice Ashton

Contributors dc:contributor

• McCarthy, Cameron

• Education, Language and Literature

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3337774

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86595