All 11 Uses of
diversity
in
Do You Speak American?
- Paradoxically, the truth seems to be that, where change occurs, it is often creating more diversity, not less.†
Chpt 2 *
- This is an oversimplification, but it holds a lot of truth, because there is more dialect diversity in the East than in the West.†
Chpt 2
- Given all the regional diversity, and the great latitude in spoken language, what is fascinating is how passionately Americans care about being correct, with strong prejudices about "incorrect" regional features.†
Chpt 3
- Because there are large communities of Hispanic and African American Californians, as well as Japanese and Chinese, and more recently Koreans and Vietnamese, California is one of the most racially mixed states in the country, and that diversity is bound to affect California English in the long run.†
Chpt 7
- Besides these important ethnic influences, California's leading-edge culture entails a tolerance for gender diversity that has been well ahead of most of America for at least two generations.†
Chpt 7
- Out of this new diversity has sprung a lexicon of new terms: Transgender—An umbrella term to encompass many forms of behavior, including transsexuals, transvestites, drag queens, drag kings, cross-dressers, female illusionists, gender benders, gender queens—although not limited to those definitions, and not all of those people want to be called transgender.†
Chpt 7
- So, we asked, will this new technology reinforce these stereotypes, that a black man and a white should each speak in a certain way, or could it be used to break them down, in the interest of promoting greater tolerance for diversity?†
Chpt 8
- I believe the diversity will maintain.†
Chpt 8
- If the trends we have identified stay on their present paths, we can expect to see more diversity in regional speech patterns, new dialects becoming stronger (as in California), some disappearing (as in Ocracoke), and some continuing to diverge from standard American (as African American English).†
Chpt 8
- That may even produce more tolerance and appreciation of the linguistic diversity of this country, and less negative stereotyping of some dialects (such as New York or Southern) as "bad English."†
Chpt 8
- Also, given the increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the country, and ongoing immigration, we can expect our version of English to be continually modified by and to borrow from all the immigrant languages, as it has done throughout American history.†
Chpt 8
Definition:
-
(diversity) the condition of variety -- especially in reference to members of a population group who are of different races or cultures