American Tongues
Encyclopedia
American Tongues is a 1988 sociolinguistic documentary
examining American English
dialect
s and accent
s and perceptions thereof.
It was produced and directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker
. The Center for New American Media won a Peabody Award
for the film in 1987.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
examining American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s and accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
s and perceptions thereof.
It was produced and directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker
Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker
Louis Alvarez, born January 23, 1955, and Andrew Kolker, born February 20, 1952, are American documentary filmmakers whose works deal with various aspects of American society and culture. Their films have been shown frequently on the American Public Broadcasting Service and are notable for their...
. The Center for New American Media won a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for the film in 1987.