Analysis of American Tongues: Cultural Anthropology Report

This report analyzes the documentary "American Tongues," which explores the diverse accents and dialects found across the United States. The documentary highlights how accents vary significantly based on regional and cultural backgrounds. The report discusses the film's portrayal of linguistic diversity, examining the perspectives of various individuals from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It emphasizes the filmmakers' effort to capture a wide range of voices and opinions on language and identity. The report also touches upon the concept of a 'generic speech' and its implications. Ultimately, the report concludes that the documentary effectively showcases the rich diversity of accents in America and the role of language in fostering connections and distinguishing between communities.

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America is a country that is home to different accents and different dialects because of
the fact that people from all over the world from various nationalities come and stay in this
country. The documentary called the American Tongues which was released in the year of 1988
is humorous portrait of this cultural diversity and differences of accent that characterize America.
The documentary starts with a brilliant show of different people from various origins trying to
say the same tongue twister “Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow; And
everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go.” The accents used by people from
different cultural backgrounds were noticeably different. The film makers Louis Alvarez and
Andrew Kolker went to the corners of America, in the cities, and in the country side to search for
different accents thriving in the country. The documentary states how there are so many varieties
of English spoken in the country and which are remarkably different from each other. The dialect
spoken in some remote mountainous region of the North may be starkly different from the accent
spoken in the eastern coast of the country. The video concludes with the statement that there
might be various varieties of English accents in the United States ultimately what matters is the
message that is conveyed in the language, “language can bring us together, or set us apart”.
To critically analyze the video, it must be conceded that the makers have taken a
considerable effort in making the documentary by collecting the accents, ideas about accent and
opinion on the subject from a wide variety of people belonging from various cultural background
of the society. There are Afro-Americans, Asians, Latins, Eastern Europeans, Native Americans
and regular Americans who are talking about the way they speak and perceive language. This has
given a variety to the film which keeps the viewer asking for more. United States is a country tht
boasts of its diversity and people from all social backgrounds and regions of the world has made
the United States their home. The documentary is a celebration of that diversity. The

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documentary features a lady who is the voice of the telephone directory. She explains that the
authorities were looking for a “generic speech”, a type of speech that can be heard from
anywhere of the country and the listener cannot make out the place from where the person
speaking belongs to. This was done because the voice would be used all over the country and
there might be problem among people to understand the language. This is nicely explained in the
end with the statement that “we feel a special bond with people who talk the same way that we
do.” Therefore, the documentary can be termed as a successful medium in portraying the richly
diverse accents that is spoken in the country. The directors have presented us with a documentary
that celebrates the accentual diversity in America.