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  3. One important part of para-linguistics is accent, which describes those features of pronunciation that identify a person either

One important part of para-linguistics is accent, which describes those features of pronunciation that identify a person either

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问题     One important part of para-linguistics is accent, which describes those features of pronunciation that identify a person either geographically or socially. Each one of us speaks with an accent. It is not possible to do otherwise. Our accent quickly tells the listener where we come from, for unless we make a conscious effort to use another accent, we speak with the accent of those with whom we grew up or presently live amongst.
    Some studies have focused on stereotyping as a source of this linguistic prejudice against nonstandard forms. The speech of ethnic groups seen as occupying a lower socio-economic position in American society was assessed by members of higher status groups using semantic differential scales. Not only were the assessments broadly negative but also the mere assignment of an ethnic label to a particular speaker was sufficient to trigger a stereotyped response. While speakers may vary in their own speech across dialect boundaries, often subconsciously, they were easily aware of slight differences in the speech of others. A form of linguistic prejudice emerges in that group may arbitrarily define their own speech as better than those of others.
    Indeed, a deeper process is going on. Judgments about standards of speech, dialects, and accents might appear to revolve around notions of esthetics, or even pragmatics, but these are only symbolic representations. At a deeper level, they are not only markers of social identity but also the process by which that identity is realized. Accents give us direct information about the speaker, even though the information we decipher is, not always accurate. Accents tend to reflect existing prejudices towards people we hear using them. All of us tend to judge each other in this way, whether it is a stereotypical response—positive, negative or neutral—to the place where we assume a person is from, or a value we hold based on our perception of that person’s status in society.
The main idea of the text is that______.
选项 A、accents are unfortunately often used to reinforce preexisting linguistic stereotypes
B、accents are used to identify the social background of a speaker
C、accents are generally used to form negative opinions of the speaker
D、we must stop discriminating against people due to accent
答案A
解析 属主旨思想题。文章主题为口音偏见。A项讲到：“不幸的是，口音经常被用于加强业已存在的语言成见。”A项较为全面地概括出文章主旨。
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