Members of a culture use language to communicate their thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values with one another, and thereby reinforce their collective sense of cultural identity (Whorf, 1952). Consequently, the language you speak (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Urdu), the words you choose (proper, slang, profane), and the grammar you use (formal, informal) all announce to others: “This is who I am! This is my cultural heritage!”
Each language reflects distinct sets of cultural beliefs and values. However, a large group of people within a particular culture who speak the same language may (over time) develop their own variations on that language, known as dialects (Gleason, 1989). Dialects may include unique phrases, words, and pronunciations (such as accents). Dialects reflect the shared history, experiences, and knowledge of people who live in a particular geographic region (the American Midwest or the Deep South), share a common socioeconomic status (urban working class or upper-
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People often judge those who use dialects similar to their own as ingroupers and are thus inclined to make positive judgments about them (Delia, 1972; Lev-