Standardization and Linguistic Homogeneity

Why do people alter their speech?

Linguistic Insecurity: feelings of anxiety, self-consciousness, or lack of confidence in the mind of a speaker surrounding the use of their own language. Often, this anxiety comes from speakers' belief that their use of language does not conform to the perceived standard and/or the style of language expected by the speakers' interlocutor(s).

Hypercorrection: a non-standard usage that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of grammar or a usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes that the form is correct through misunderstanding of these rules, often combined with a desire to appear formal or educated.

American Regional Dialects

Activity

• Listen to/watch the video clips from that region, take note of differences between regional speech and standard english
• Decide whether your group thinks it should be considered an accent or a dialect