In a Manner of Speaking
We’ve all seen the diversity statistics on Dartmouth’s website, boasting that our peers come from 50 states and 79 countries. But with all those different backgrounds and cultures, why, when you look around, does everyone sound the same? You’d be hard-pressed to overhear a conversation that didn’t include at least one use of “facetime,” “schmob” or “FoCo.” But this trend goes beyond our quirky vocabulary. It’s not just what we say that’s strikingly similar, but also how we say it. Given Dartmouth’s diverse representation of countries and regions of the U.S., we’re forced to wonder — where is the linguistic diversity?