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Many people living in the great American melting pot find that this dialect grates not only upon their ears but also upon their souls. Now there is ‘scientific’ evidence of why that should be. Linguists at Syraquse University have recognized American Xenophone as a counter-cultural dialect of the hateful and xenophobic, characterized by a combination of vowel shifts, hateful sounding hard consonants that emphasize those vowel shifts, and a unique lexicon.
Dr. Cardia Leak will present her findings in next month's issue of the _Journal of Hate Speech_. “Feelings of discomfort upon hearing a language that is constructed around counter-cultural norms is a universal human phenomenon.” Going on, Dr. Leek stated, “Not all Americans can keep up with the culture and language merging. In the US this fast moving river of ever shifting sounds and vocabulary blends both the cultural influences of new immigrants and technological development. Most of us have a sense of this phenomenon and have experienced such feelings trying to talk to our grandparents, parents or students in our classrooms. What our team has found that is new, is that American Xenophone is not a regional or local geographic dialect associated with small towns and rural isolation biased by immigration histories. Although AX has similarities to various trends in the past century's European “movement speech” (associated with the drift of kapitlism into fascism and phalangism), AX turns out to be not a dialect of small towns, but, rather, a dialect of small, slow minds.”
The Speech Oriented Syraquse aMurikanese Research Team (referred to as SOSMRT) has identified this dialect as a “magnet” language that draws then binds together people who are unable to keep up with change in society. Shirley Right, a grad student on the team suggested, “If you want an illusion to help non-linguists understand, AX is the sucking sound of a whirlpool of the mainstream of American life. In a river-rafting analogy it is a great swirling ‘hydraulic’ that holds back the progress of significant numbers of Americans.”
The fine points of the American Xenophone dialect will be presented in SOSMRT's upcoming publication. The distinguishing features include characteristic ‘angry’ L and R sounds that are signaled by A’s and strange throatings of the letter A remiscent of the sound of someone vomiting, and the loss of distinction between a, o, e and i in some words. Examples of the ‘angry L’ and ‘puking A’ are found in AX speakers’ pronunciation of the words illegal alien, as iLLLegAHHHLLL aLLLiAHHn. Other examples of these sounds are found in their current pronunciation of the words ‘social welfare,’ and ‘leftwing liberal.’ Shifts in vowel sounds are exemplified by "moron" becoming "moran," and "evolution" becoming "evilution" (including the angry L). In a lexigraphical sense, the term "immigrant" is typically replaced with "alien," or "for’ner" (including angry r’s and puking e.)Incipient additions to the dialect include ‘you betcha’ ‘professar of common sense,’ and the often indistinguishable interchange of meaning between democracy, capitalism and christianity as well as a blurring of the terms advocacy and violence. Although it is not a progressive dialect it nonetheless has changed over time and has generated or incorporated many nouns as hate terms that are still used by some of its speakers. These include Arian, Anglo, Burrhead, Gringo, Hayseed, Iowegian, Kicker, Kraut, Mick, Raghead, Redneck, Spick, Squaw, Tory, Wetback, Yankee, and Yid. While some of these terms have lost their hateful power following ‘ownership’ of the derisive term by the targeted groups, many continue to cause pain when used among the American mainstream.
When asked about the importance of their work, Dr Leak replied “American Xenophone is not simply vulgar speech, but the semantics of a counter-cultural movement. AX is the most effective entry point into a xenophobic way of life. It is the hope of the SOSMRT team that American politicians, parents and educators will develop an awareness of society's and especially childrens' attraction to this counter-culture language. With that awareness our childrens' futures and the future of American society in general can continue to be enriched by cultural and technological advancement.
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