Dialects, Sociolects and Perceived Identities

• The dialect one speaks is one of the primary ways one is perceived by others. This 'identity perception' can be strongly loaded, reflecting whether one belongs to "us" or "them" (cf. the 'Yankee or Dixie' dialect quiz, for example)
• The American Tongues videotape showed numerous examples of popular perceptions of various U.S. dialectical and sociolectical identities.
• A number of U.S. dialect areas can be identified, some of which are often used for stereotyping or caricature by the entertainment media (see reference samples)

Loan Words and Language Mixtures Also Influence Identity

• The lexical and structural phenomena contributed by different immigrant groups throughout American history distinguishes American from British English.
• Loan words also influence social, regional and personal identity, either in reality or as stereotyped and caricatured by others.
• Studies of the ethnic ancestry (PDF) of the U.S. population reveal the immigrant groups and languages that have most influenced the history and current development of American English (see U.S. Population/Language Distribution Maps, and also Hyphen and TwoMundos magazines for further examples).

US-1 Objectives for Loan Word Recognition

The variety of loan words represented in a particular language, and the different historical periods and contexts of their usage, are a fruitful resource for many types of studies. For US-1, however, our treatment will be limited to the following:

• Loan word differences between SAE and SBE vs national history, especially with past American Indian and present Spanish terminology (and also Black English and Yiddish/ethnic Jewish lexical and structural influence, to be covered later) but also with different influences from French, Spanish, Italian, and other languages.
• Inside the U.S., 'regional' associations with certain loan words
  • Regional specificity of Spanish, French, Italian, Yiddish, Chinese, Swedish, etc., vs. German
• Possible stereotypical identification(s) other than regional: ethnic, historical, etc.
• "Loaded" or otherwise "marked" references due to the stereotypes or caricatures of certain ethnic groups and their languages in U.S. popular culture (for example "consigliore" and "siesta")

What Do Loan Words Represent?

1. National History: All languages have loan words; only the particular words and the immigrant or ethnic group from which the words derive will differ.
2. Influence of immigrant/ethnic group in imposing its words
   • Size of the immigrant/ethnic group: English, German, current Latino
   • Historical period in which the influence occurred: American Indian, Dutch
   • 'Activity' of the group (Jewish/Yiddish vs Italian vs Finnish (for example)
     This may be 'indirect' or 'direct', as with Italy/Italian examples of "a fine Italian hand" and other phrases received from SBE vs "Cosa nostra," "capo," "don," "omertá," etc., from 20th century American film, literature, and social dynamics
3. Need for the host language to take new terms
   • Historical needs (New England colonies and American Indian terms)
   • 'Current' news or changing needs (sputnik, ombudsman, ayatollah, mullah ...)
4. Often a mixture of the above, with regional 'preferences' or 'refinements'; highly subject to historical change and/or euphemization
   • WWI German sauerkraut to 'liberty cabbage' and liverwurst to 'liberty sausage', vs.
   • Hamburg steak to 'Salisbury steak' ('hamburger steak')
   • Changing usage may present problems for researchers (cf. German-Americans and World War One)
5. Stereotypes or connotations of the host language or culture
   • sauna vs sweatlodge (U.S. plains Indians) vs. steambath (Turkish or neutral)

Loan Words May Indicate (though seldom 'consistently'):

1. Regional stereotype (bayou, butte, chowder — all French origin, but different regions)
2. Ethnic cultural stereotype (squaw vs hausfrau; English vs Spanish concept of siesta)
3. Historic, but neutral (aside from possible regional specificity) connotation (Catskill, powwow, chili, lacrosse, bonanza, rodeo)
4. No general connotation at all, or one which has changed from the original and become highly marked by the stereotypical perspective(s) of multiple linguistic and cultural factors (cf. 'sauna', 'Swedish massage,' etc.)
5. Time-dating and/or political overtones, Chicano (vs 'Latino' or 'Hispanic') 'la raza', etc.

See examples One and Two of Loan Words in American English