Ling 210, Dr. Troyer Sociolinguistic Media Analysis Page 1 Popular TV programs (especially sit-coms) and films (especially animated cartoons) frequently feature characters with distinct dialects or strong accents. Often characters whose language is furthest from standard English are portrayed as uneducated, dishonest, or downright stupid. On the other hand, some non-standard ways of speaking are seen as romantic or exotic—alluring as opposed to laughable. In any case equating intelligence, morality, or sexual orientation with language is blatant pandering to stereotypes. As with all media, on one hand you can say these stereotypes are merely a reflection of many people’s actual beliefs (whether they are valid or not)—but you could also argue that the media perpetuates unwarranted connections between nonstandard and substandard. For this assignment, choose a film or TV program and one character in it who has a distinctly different non-standard dialect or accent from the other characters, and provide the following information. Clearly number and address ALL 9 topics! 1. Title of the film or program 2. Description of the character (physical, mental, emotional, personality, etc.): Write at least a paragraph about the character without mentioning anything about his or her use of language. 3. Character language: Is it a distinct regional or social dialect of English (from chapter 12), or is it an accent with influences from another language? 4. Phonology: Transcribe several lines or words from the character in phonetics, and below each, give the transcription of the same words in Standard Spoken English. Point out distinctive features of the character’s phonology which allow us to identify it as different from the standard English of a national news broadcaster, etc. 5. Morphology-Syntax: Are there any morpho-syntactic (i.e. grammatical) differences between the character’s usage and standard English? For example African American use of habitual BE or non- use of third person singular ‘s’ on verbs, or Chicano English use of en for both in and on, or for influence from other languages, lack of determiners (a, an, the), or lack of tense or plural markers. Give examples. 6. Lexicon: Give examples of lexical choices (words the character uses) that are unique to the dialect or accent being represented. Note that the focus is on a dialect, accent, or other stereotypical language, not the character’s idiolect. 7. Based on your knowledge of the film or program, is this combination of language representation and characterization an attempt to accurately portray socio-economic realities (a character from a wealthy southern family should talk like a southern aristocrat, and a character from an inner-city Detroit working class family should sound like a corresponding dialect)? Or is the dialect or accent used in order to add stereotypical personality traits to a character? Explain with at least a short paragraph ...

1. Ling 210, Dr. Troyer Sociolinguistic Media Analysis Page 1
Popular TV programs (especially sit-coms) and films (especially
animated cartoons) frequently feature
characters with distinct dialects or strong accents. Often
characters whose language is furthest from
standard English are portrayed as uneducated, dishonest, or
downright stupid. On the other hand, some
non-standard ways of speaking are seen as romantic or exotic—
alluring as opposed to laughable. In any
case equating intelligence, morality, or sexual orientation with
language is blatant pandering to
stereotypes. As with all media, on one hand you can say these
stereotypes are merely a reflection of
many people’s actual beliefs (whether they are valid or not)—
but you could also argue that the media
perpetuates unwarranted connections between nonstandard and
substandard.
For this assignment, choose a film or TV program and one
character in it who has a distinctly
different non-standard dialect or accent from the other
characters, and provide the following
information. Clearly number and address ALL 9 topics!
1. Title of the film or program
2. Description of the character (physical, mental, emotional,
personality, etc.): Write at least a paragraph
about the character without mentioning anything about his or
her use of language.

2. 3. Character language: Is it a distinct regional or social dialect
of English (from chapter 12), or is it an
accent with influences from another language?
4. Phonology: Transcribe several lines or words from the
character in phonetics, and below each, give
the transcription of the same words in Standard Spoken English.
Point out distinctive features of the
character’s phonology which allow us to identify it as different
from the standard English of a
national news broadcaster, etc.
5. Morphology-Syntax: Are there any morpho-syntactic (i.e.
grammatical) differences between the
character’s usage and standard English? For example African
American use of habitual BE or non-
use of third person singular ‘s’ on verbs, or Chicano English use
of en for both in and on, or for
influence from other languages, lack of determiners (a, an, the),
or lack of tense or plural markers.
Give examples.
6. Lexicon: Give examples of lexical choices (words the
character uses) that are unique to the dialect or
accent being represented. Note that the focus is on a dialect,
accent, or other stereotypical language,
not the character’s idiolect.
7. Based on your knowledge of the film or program, is this
combination of language representation and
characterization an attempt to accurately portray socio-
economic realities (a character from a
wealthy southern family should talk like a southern aristocrat,
and a character from an inner-city
Detroit working class family should sound like a corresponding

3. dialect)? Or is the dialect or accent
used in order to add stereotypical personality traits to a
character? Explain with at least a short
paragraph.
8. Does the use of language you identified in #7 work to make
people more sensitive to realities of
language variation and accepting of multiple ways of speaking,
or does the use of language work to
perpetuate misconceptions about the connection between non-
standard usage and
intelligence/personality? Write at least a short paragraph.
9. Add your own opinions and thoughts about how language is
portrayed in popular TV and films.
Good examples of past analyses:
Ling 210, Dr. Troyer Sociolinguistic Media Analysis Page 2
Good examples of past analyses:
Modern Family (Gloria, who is from Columbia, or Cam, who is
gay)
Fez on That 70s Show (non-native speaker)
Joyce in Edward Scissorhands
Rush Hour (African American vernacular or non-native
speaker, Chinese)
Family Guy (the British dialect baby, Stewie—or is it the dog,
Brian?—I don’t watch the show)

4. Shrek (various characters)
Tony on Who’s the Boss (a show from the 80s with the
Brooklyn-accented Tony Danza)
Sponge Bob (Sandy Banks)
My Fair Lady (cockney speaker Eliza Doolittle)
NCIS
Green Acres
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
the list goes on…