Do You Speak American

In Robert Mac Neil’s documentary “Do You Speak American? 3-Part Series: Up North, Down South, Out West,” he takes us through a journey across America. In his three part series he explores how American English has become the dominant form of speaking English, but the reality is that in America there are very distinct ways to speak English. He studies how the written form of the language has served as the preserver of the language, but this is still in danger of diluting because how one speaks affects how one writes. He explores in his documentary how text, hip hop, immigration, settlements, and mass media affects language. He concludes that the first group to settle in an area has a lasting effect in language in that area. He briefly touches on the different views on preserving the language and making English the national language. He explores the differences between the North and South of the country and explains that the greatest difference is evident in the language spoken in each region.

His journey begins in New England, Maine, where he explores the New England speech pattern where that region often does pronounce the letter r unless is followed by a vowel. He concludes that that speech pattern originates in the English settlement of that area and the people of that area wanting to sound more English. The same holds true about New York until after World War II, when New Yorkers no longer wanted to sound more English because they did not want to be perceived as stuffy or to correct in their speech. He then continues his journey in New York City who he considers to be an enormous language generator. There he explores the influence of Ebonics among the black community and how it spreads their style of speech through Rap music.

He later continues his journey by travelling to West Philadelphia and Pittsburg. He explores how what is considered “standard American” is considered to have originated in Philadelphia since they were the first to pronounce the letter r. He then travels to Pittsburg where he explores a specific kind of language that is only spoken in that area. He continues the journey to the South and there he explores the different speech patterns that are evident in the South itself. There he continues his exploration of the difference that race has on speech pattern in an area by discussing southern whites and southern blacks. He discusses that these changes have come about in the last 150 years after rural blacks began to migrate to the urban cities. Since they were segregated there, they developed their own speech patterns, today known as Ebonics.

He ends his journey exploring the speech pattern of the West. He begins to explore the influence that Spanish has had in the American language through his journey in Texas. He concludes that the further south west he travels the greater the influence Spanish has. He explores the difference of Spanglish and Chicano dialects. He explores