How You Say It: Why You Talk the Way You Do-And What It Says About You

by Katherine D. Kinzler

Overview

From “one of the most brilliant young psychologists of her generation” (Paul Bloom), a groundbreaking examination of how speech causes some of our deepest social divides—and how it can help us overcome them.
 

We gravitate toward people like us; it’s human nature. Race, class, and gender shape our social identities, and thus who we perceive as “like us” or “not like us”. But one overlooked factor can be even more powerful: the way we speak. As the pioneering psychologist  Katherine Kinzler reveals in How You Say It, the way we talk is central to our social identity because our speech largely reflects the voices we heard as children. We can change how we speak to some extent, whether by “code-switching” between dialects or learning a new language; over time, your speech even changes to reflect your evolving social identity and aspirations. But for the most part, we are forever marked by our native tongue—and are hardwired to prejudge others by theirs, often with serious consequences. Your accent alone can determine the economic opportunity or discrimination you encounter in life, making speech one of the most urgent social-justice issues of our day. Our linguistic differences present challenges, Kinzler shows, but they also can be a force for good. Humans can benefit from being exposed to multiple languages —a paradox that should inspire us to master this ancient source of tribalism, and rethink the role that speech plays in our society.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544986558
Publisher:	HMH Books
Publication date:	07/21/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	97,996
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

KATHERINE D. KINZLER, PhD, is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. She holds degrees from Yale and Harvard, has written for the New York Times, and was recently named a “Young Scientist” by the World Economic Forum—one of 50 scientists under age 40 worldwide working to shape our future. She lives in Chicago.

Table of Contents

Introduction: It's Not What You Say ix

Chapter 1 How You Speak Is Who You Are 1

Your Language Is Your Tribe. Burnouts and Valley Girls. Peers vs. Parents. Who's Afraid of RBG? Remembering in Russian.

Chapter 2 Native Tongues 28

Nabokov's Nanny. Give Me a Sign. The Wonder Years. Ghost in the Machine. "I'm Just Not as Funny in English!"

Chapter 3 How Language Divides Us 54

Scarlet Letters. Shibboleth. Toward Babel. Ugly Americans. Are People Nicer in the South? Linguistic Insecurity.

Chapter 4 Deep Talk 80

Organisms of Nature. Calls of the Wild. Out of Africa. Who Said What? Flurps and Zazzes.

Chapter 5 Little Bigots? 101

Mother Tongue. Social Animals. When in Rome. "Julie Isn't Racist!" Aladdin's Accent.

Chapter 6 On The Basis of Speech 125

"They Can't Even Speak English". In Talk We Trust. Living; Wage. Communication Skills. Speak Truth.

Chapter 7 A Linguistics Revolution 152

The Monolingual Myth. What Language Do You Use to Brush Your Teeth? The Bilingual Bonus. Polyglots Preferred. It's Elementary.

Afterword: It's Not What You Say 177

Acknowledgments 187

Notes 190

Index 224

Editorial Reviews

04/20/2020

Kinzler, a University of Chicago psychology professor, explores in this revelatory and thought-provoking debut the social assumptions people attach to accents and speaking styles, to sometimes devastating effect. Kinzler became interested in the subject while traveling in the former Yugoslavia, where she saw how linguistic variations played into ethnic enmity. Early on in the book, she presents famous cases from linguistics, including an episode in Nicaragua in the 1970s in which a group of deaf children newly enrolled together in school spontaneously developed a new sign language, and lighter contemporary topics, such as upspeak (the rising inflection that makes a statement sound like a question). Moving into more urgent territory, Kinzler takes aim at the “negative stereotypes of nonstandard accents,” which she finds still prevalent in American culture. She cites various examples of how prejudices against the way people speak have led to discrimination in housing, employment, and the justice system, including how, during George Zimmerman’s murder trial, the accent of a witness who was last to speak to Trayvon Martin before his death led jurors to largely discount her testimony. Well-written and entertainingly told, Kinzler’s persuasive exploration of linguistic-based differences will awaken readers to potentially unrecognized biases. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman Inc. (July)

Publishers Weekly

An Amazon Best Science Book of 2020

“How You Say It makes a crisp but comprehensive case... that although our distaste for ways of speaking that differ from ours is baked into us, true civilization requires that we work against it as much as possible.”—John McWhorter, New York Times Book Review

“Kinzler explores in this revelatory and thought-provoking debut the social assumptions people attach to accents and speaking styles, to sometimes devastating effect… Well-written and entertainingly told, Kinzler’s persuasive exploration of linguistic-based differences will awaken readers to potentially unrecognized biases.”—Publishers Weekly

“An articulate examination of an underrecognized aspect of human communication.”—Kirkus Reviews

“‘An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him / The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him.’ In this timely and engaging book, Katherine Kinzler shows how Henry Higgins’s observation applies to all of us. She presents the fascinating new science of linguistic prejudice, much of it her own, and spells out the implications for education, parenting, and our understanding of one another.”—Steven Pinker, New York Times best-selling author of The Language Instinct and The Sense of Style

"In the multifarious ways the sounds of language tumble out of our mouths, Katherine Kinzler brilliantly detects questions of identity, personality, and social relations.  This book is for anybody who is intrigued by the uniquely human sounds of language—the subtle messages they convey and the impressions they conjure up."—Mahzarin R. Banaji, New York Times best-selling author of Blindspot

​"How You Say It is a fascinating look at all aspects of language, but especially how the way we talk shapes how people see us—and thus what challenges we face and what opportunities we get (or don't) in life. A must read for any social scientist, and any concerned citizen."—Emily Oster, New York Times best-selling author of Cribsheet and Expecting Better

“A compelling journey into the science, and essence, of what it means to be human—that is, how we communicate with each other. How You Say It is an incredibly timely book, revealing the power of speech beyond words alone, and pushing us to confront our biases and to understand the biases of others. By learning to understand the nature and effect of verbal communication, we can help our world become more equitable, constructive, and positive for everyone. A highly recommended read for all of us!”—Dana Suskind, author of Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain

"A fascinating book, How You Say It will intrigue you, surprise you, and maybe even provoke you—but above all else, it will make you think!"—Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

“Katherine Kinzler is a phenomenon—one of the most brilliant young psychologists of her generation. She is a clear and lucid writer, a brave and creative scholar, and her discoveries about how language shapes the social world are truly groundbreaking.” —Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy and Just Babies

 

From the Publisher

09/25/2020

The way we speak can be a critical marker of identity, yet we are unaware of its power. It's often how we sound signals about who we are, where we come from, and the aspirations we have. Language and dialect are deeply connected to our sense of self and tribe and are also linked to deep-seated stereotypes and biases. For example, a person with a deep Southern drawl might be perceived differently from someone with a British accent. Kinzler's (psychology, Univ. of Chicago) goal with this book is to explain the relationship between language, dialect, and social forces so we can use that knowledge when we interact with others. In achieving this goal, Kinzler researched how babies and young children use language to divide people into categories and determine who is like them and who is different. In her words, she studies children because they provide a window into our human nature. The author later explores the interplay of accent and prejudice, especially in the workplace and during the interview process; the challenges of learning a second language; and bilingualism's advantages. VERDICT Insightful and accessible, this book is a must for all psychology and social justice collections.—Beth Dalton, Littleton, CO

Library Journal

2020-04-08
How we speak shapes our lives in powerful ways, argues a psychologist immersed in research on the subject.

In her persuasive first book, University of Chicago psychology professor Kinzler maintains that the way we speak, whether in a “foreign” accent, a “nonstandard” version of our own language, or a “high-status” one, affects both how we perceive the world and how we are perceived by others. Making judicious use of her own research as well as that of others, the author shows the deep roots of our reactions to language and its variations. Kinzler’s research is particularly fascinating: Many of her experiments were conducted with children less than 1 year old—sometimes just a couple months—and proved that even at this age, children are able to differentiate among accents and prefer those of their primary caregivers to any others. Perhaps more surprisingly, babies and children recognize language as one of the key defining aspects used in discriminating between “us” and “them”—even more essential than race. Kindergartners, for example, think that “someone who was white and spoke English was more likely to grow up to be black than grow up to speak French.” After comprehensively educating readers about the vital role that our speech plays in how we are viewed, Kinzler goes on to argue, using several legal cases as well as more formal research as evidence, that discrimination based on accent or regional speech is just as real as discrimination based on, say, race or national origin. In fact, it may be more insidious because it's often not consciously recognized by the individuals doing the discriminating. Writing informally and concisely, Kinzler aims to raise our awareness of this unnoticed prejudice so that we can put an end to it.

An articulate examination of an underrecognized aspect of human communication.

Kirkus Reviews

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