In engaging with this week’s theme of citizen sociolinguistic narratives, I wanted to share the YouTuber SuperAwesome ’s video “As a Taiwanese person, do you know what a ‘Taiwanese accent’ is?” (original title: 身為台灣人 你懂什麼是「台灣腔」嗎？; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEV_sz3te0 ). Rymes points out that citizen sociolinguists possess at least two types of knowledge regarding accents: “People must know enough about language to recognize differences in ways of speaking…people must also know how their peers ascribe value to those differences in order for them to count as socially meaningful ‘accents’” (ms, Chapter 5, p. 5). SuperAwesome demonstrates both of these knowledges in his introduction: (Basic translation by me. ALL CAPS = English. Italics = speaking with a “Taiwanese Mandarin” accent – Taiwanese Mandarin as described in this transcription is a low-prestige style of Mandarin spoken in Taiwan and is distinctly different from the more prestigious Taiwanese-accented Mandarin, whi...
Thanks for posting this (Sarah?). In general, I like the attitude about the creative-writing AI: It's a tool that writers can work with--sometimes it has insights, sometimes its lame. In a way, it seems like Google translate: Useful in some ways, but often, you really already need to know both languages you are "translating" to know if it is being helpful.
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