HCHS 2015 Commencement Address

This past Saturday, I had the great honor and privilege to deliver the commencement address at Hancock County High School, my alma mater (Class of 2000 represent!). Naturally, I talked about my experiences as an Appalachian in our post-modern culture, and how my life was shaped by the values instilled in me by my homeland. Becoming proud of being a mountain man was a process for me, and I hope the graduates can have an easier path embracing their local identity  (or not, if they choose not to).

Several people have asked for the video, so I decided the most effective way to share it would be here. So, below is the video! If you'd like a copy emailed to you, just let me know at paul.emory.reed@gmail.com or in a comment (be sure to put your email!)

Appalachian Code Switching

Today's post is a self-reflection, brought on by the following two articles:

http://therevivalist.info/appalachian-code-switching/
http://www.thehomesickappalachian.com/whos-telling-our-stories/

The first speaks to something that I understand completely: code-switching. It's a fancy word that basically means you talk very differently depending on where you are talking and who you are talking to. As a mountain man with deep mountain roots, I have a way of talking that demonstrates these roots and my favorite place, Hancock County, TN. However, I am also an academic who presents in front of people often, typically about research where I am presenting data and information about language. Somewhere along the way, my way of speaking became ways of speaking. I don't remember the time or the place, and I don't really have one concrete moment when I 'changed', but I can hear it now. I hear my voice when I talk to my family or friends back home, and I also hear it when I present or in my daily life here at the university, and never the twain shall meet. People often tell me that they are surprised to hear that I come from the mountains. I'm not gonna lie, that actually hurts more that I thought at first. I suppose it hurts because I'm afraid that that person thinks that I've turned my back on my homeland and my home people. I most certainly have not done so, but that fear is real.

I can't pinpoint exactly why my speech changed. I know all the linguistic and social reasons from the linguistics literature, things like accommodation, the influence of standard ideologies, stigma, audience design, etc. But, I'm not sure any one of these is the key, perhaps it's the sum of the parts. In any case, this article resonated deeply with me. And, I am going to try to let my home voice out more away from home, because that's really who I am.

The second article speaks to my work. While the author is talking about fiction, the point is still valid. There is a growing body of linguistics literature on Appalachia. Much of it, though, has been written by people not from the region. This is not to slight their work. I know many of them and their work is stellar and thought-provoking. Their methods are sound and many of their conclusions have clarified my thinking and spurred my own work forward. At the same time, they are not writing about a region they've embraced and breathed since birth, or about people they've loved with, worked with, joked with, or mourned with for a lifetime. They see the region as worthy of study and the people worthy of having a voice, and that is completely admirable and righteous. But there is something about a native writing about home. You have a knowledge that is greater and more profound than someone looking in could ever possess. Perspectives about how things are that come from living in a place, participating in a society, and interacting with people that builds up over a lifetime. As a dear friend and fellow Appalachian academic says quite poignantly about this particular insider/outsider issue:

But I also feel down deep in my soul that they are never going to understand us like we understand ourselves. There is truth in what you say, though, about us-- as insiders-- having our own blind spots. I think the best way to think about it is insiders/ outsiders each have their strengths and limitations, but as long as our hearts are pure we can be allies. We need allies; it makes things easier. But they need to be open-minded people who understand that there are things about us and our language that they will never be able to understand.

We need to write about home, and we also need others to write about us. It's a symbiotic relationship where each has a perspective that the other needs. I fully agree that both sides must be well-intentioned.

Yet, to write about home requires a certain distance. The very thing that gives you a perspective can also cloud it. A distance that allows you to see how unique certain things are, or alternatively, how common. A distance that allows you to understand what is lacking, and, what is in abundance. A distance that allows you to see the indelible imprint of home in your life, and also to see how that imprint has colored other perceptions. A distance from home, to see it more clearly, and yearn for it more deeply.

More about House of Cards

Yesterday, I posted about Southern vowels. I wanted to go into a bit more detail here than what appeared in the article I mentioned yesterday. You may want to take a couple minutes and read it before continuing...

Basically, people outside the South have the misconception that all Southerners sound the same. We Southerners have the same misconceptions about regions outside the South. Ever heard a Southern lament the way that 'Yankees' talk? Yankees could be anybody from Maryland northward. Or we'll say 'New Yorkers sound the same' etc. Most of this comes down to experience with the language varieties. A person with lots of experience with particular varieties can detect some differences; those with less experience can't. When we don't have much experience, we rely on the little that we do know - namely stereotypes.

Back to Kevin Spacey's accent in 'House of Cards'...

Ask a non-Southerner with little experience with Southern Englishes to mimic a Southerner and you'll get two things: monophthongization and r-lessness. Monophthongization is when a vowel sound that can be two different sounds becomes one. That's a fancy way of saying that words like I, my, and right sound more like Ah, mah, and raht (phonetically they are [a:, ma:, ɹa:t], though the vowel sound varies). Outside of the South, these words use two vowel sounds, moving from something like the first vowel in father ([a]) to something like the vowel sound in pit ([ɪ]). In the South, these are realized as one sound. r-lessness refers to when an /r/ sound occurs after a vowel. In some varieties, there is no /r/ (think most British accents, Boston, old time Charleston accents, etc.). So, the word car sounds sort of like cah (with different vowels). That type of pronunciation used to be found across parts of the South, but it isn't anymore (I'll touch on this in a later post).

Spacey's accent in HoC is decent, but not perfect. He is supposed to be from Gaffney, a relatively small town in the SC Upstate. It is much closer to Appalachia than Charleston, geographically and linguistically. His accent should sound, as mentioned in the USC Times article, more like Lindsey Graham (here's a video of Graham speaking). However, Spacey doesn't sound like this. He sounds more like someone from the coast of SC (here is Fritz Hollings, Charleston native and SC pol who Page Ivey references in the article). But, this really wouldn't be right either. The Frank Underwood's accent is using is older than his generation. It would be more like someone his father's age, or perhaps older, from Charleston or thereabouts. I am going to guess that Spacey doesn't have very much experience with Southern accents, and probably none with Upstate SC accents. So, what does he do? He relies on what he knows, the stereotypical 'Southern' speech, with monophthongs and no /r/'s.

Now, this is a minor quibble, and, being totally honest, a pretty nerdy one at that. Spacey is a fantastic actor, and he does a passable Southern accent (even if it is a bit off). Frank Underwood is a brilliant character, and his schemes just might not feel the same without that little bit of Southern sweetening brought on by Kevin Spacey's attempt at Southern speech.

Back into the Blogging game! Southern Accents

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. Mainly due to the fact that I'm writing my dissertation (should be done by the fall!). In any case, I wanted to get back into my blogging, and I will try to write more frequently. The posts will most likely be shorter until I finish my dissertation, but that may not be a bad thing!

I was recently interviewed for a faculty/staff newspaper here at USC. The reporter wanted to talk about the Netflix series 'House of Cards' and Kevin Spacey's Southern accent (see here for a pic of the article). This was inspired by the recent Vox article on the same topic. The reporter had seen that piece, and she knew that linguists at USC looked at Southern English. We had a lively time, and I think the article turned out well.

Give it a gander! I'll try to locate an online copy, and I'll update this post.