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Accents and Cultural Identity Formation
By Mari D. González
“I have traveled more than anyone else, and I have noticed that even the angels speak English with an accent” ~Mark Twain
I love accents. I find them intriguing. They tell me that the speaker is bilingual. Accents define people socioculturally and correlate to their upbringing and ethnic, national, or group identity. Some accents are difficult to understand, some are melodious, and some take time to get used to. Our evaluations are subjective and relative to our personal opinions.
I am accustomed to accents. In California, there are immigrants in different professions including medical. I have interpreted for doctors from China and India who are not understood by patients with good second-language English fluency. Such difficulty is due to the patients’ lack of familiarity with people from those countries or perhaps they simply are not as intrigued as I am.
I came across an article written by a Peruvian author who spoke about the need to diminish one’s accent because “having a Spanish accent is seen as a minus.” None of my non-English-dominant colleagues have ever discussed accent reduction. This isolated “accent” perspective does not reflect the overall Latino/Hispanic concern.
Some immigrants demonstrate a greater desire to assimilate than Mexicans. It indicates a desire to fitting in instead of integrating. Mexican-American have a different perception of assimilation and actually oppose it. This opposition might be in response to U.S.-Mexican-specific historical factors.
The background of the current state of Latinos/Hispanics in the U.S. is the Chicano Movement. Whether we agree with it or not, the Chicano Movement is a point in history that precedes where we are now as a cultural group. It defines the second developmental stage of group identity formation called “Conflict.”
The first developmental stage of group identity formation is called “Identification with the dominant culture.” It is a desire to eliminate what makes one different from members of the dominant culture or assimilation. The author’s desire to reduce his accent implies being at this first developmental stage described as having a preference for an Anglo Orientation according to the research by Vasti Torres.
Reading Latino writers such as Rodolfo Acuña, Gloria Anzaldua, Hayes-Bautista, researcher, professor Amado Padilla, and journalist, Gregory Rodriguez help us understand the past and present context of Latino identity in the U.S. and why some people have a desire to assimilate and others to integrate.
Super Bowl and the American Ethos
By Mari D. González
If one wonders what the U.S. American ethos is, one can see it fully represented in the Super Bowl ads–the dreams, the myths, the wishes, the material values, the perceived beauty, the wishful thinking, and what should or could be.
It is in marketing that those ideal values get updated to be more inclusive and reflect what we observe in daily life–an obvious ethnic diversity–made up of continuous waves of immigrants that keep moving this country forward.
Aculturado, Retro Aculturado, y Asimilado
By Mari D. González
El aculturado vive en dos mundos, el del país donde creció—su cultura de origen y donde vive–su cultura de residencia—por ejemplo, Shakira.
El retro aculturado está más empapado de la cultura de residencia pero tiene interés en aprender la cultura de sus padres o abuelos, por ejemplo, Eva Longoria.
El asimilado es quien de tantas generaciones ha perdido conexión con la cultura de origen de sus padres o abuelos. Socio-culturalmente funciona mejor en un solo mundo—el de residencia, por ejemplo, Jessica de Alba.
La nueva generación de Latinos en EEUU tiene el privilegio de poder operar simultáneamente en la cultura de residencia y la de origen. Puede estar en constante contacto con familiares y amigos del país de sus padres.
* Image by Frank Mckenna on Unsplash
Acculturation Is Not Assimilation
By Mari D. González
Assimilation is a process in which people with a different culture of origin completely adapt to the culture of residency, leaving behind traits from their culture of origin. That has been the expected social standard in the U.S. for all immigrants. Latinos have not and will not completely assimilate, culturally, that is.
Latinos and Americans are “acculturating” to each other by borrowing traits and merging cultures as a result of prolonged contact. Acculturation and assimilation are two different terms and should not be used interchangeably.
Spanish-dominant Bilingual Youth
Bilingual youth who construct their vocabulary between what they learned at home in Spanish and what they learned at school or work in English are more comfortable with a casual language among their peers that mixes phrases and words of these two languages.
According to my study of language preferences in digital media among 18-25 year-old Latinos/Hispanics, the less acculturated ones side with Spanglish-themed programming such as the no longer existing Univision-owned radio station “La Kalle,” because mainstream media does not resonate with who they are collectively.
IXMATI 