On page 378 Roberts states that "We speak of America as the melting pot, but the speech communities of this continent are very far from having melted in one." I couldn't agree more with this statement. As often as we say that America is a "melting pot," how much of our culture is really a blend of the cultures of its inhabitants? With respect to language, I think it's hard to have one dialect or accent that represents the entire continent. Roberts gives examples of dialects that a child learns at home with the family, and how that dialect changes when school starts. When I started kindergarten I'm sure that I was exposed to a different dialect than that of my family, and this was especially prevalent in places such as the school bus. I was exposed to more slang than I would have been at home, and even that tended to evolve as I was growing up. Roberts also discussed dialects related to region of the country and social class, and I think that's something that we notice all the time. When someone's speech is very different from our's, we tend to try to figure out what region of the country they are from. I think that differences in dialect as related to social class might not be looked at as much, but there are definitely differences that help us make a distinction between intelligent and not-so-intelligent speech. Overall, it seems as though we are constantly comparing our speech to that of others, but it's hard to determine who speaks the best English. Since language is relative to the environment, region, social class, etc., how do we determine who speaks the best English?
Comments (2)
I agree with our thoughts in class that when you are satisfied with your language community you will think the English you are using is the best English. I never had a problem with any of the â??Pittsburgheseâ?? that I use and thought my language was fine until I worked as a waitress in Ocean City for the summer. After some of the customers gave me an odd look when asking what kind of â??popâ?? they wanted to drink I began restricting my speech to fit in with the new surroundings that I was living in. I realized that the English I was using was not the â??best Englishâ?? for the environment and actively tried to change it to fit in better. In any case, Iâ??m not sure if there is ever a way to determine who speaks the â??best English.â?? It is just a matter of fitting into your environment and adopting the English of those around you. If the language you use is appropriate and not met with odd stares (like mine was) one could assume that they were using the best English possible and not have a further thought about it.
Posted by Amy Graham | February 27, 2008 10:51 AM
Posted on February 27, 2008 10:51
I agree with Amy (and with the conversation we had in class) that there is no way to determine who speaks the "best" English. Instead, we should be thinking about whether the language we speak is appropriate or useful in a given situation. Also, I would point out that we should also question whether we should even ask "who speaks the best English" because that question assumes that there are right and wrong ways to speak English. I hope one of the key points we will take away from our class is that all varieties of spoken language are equally valid and "good" forms of English... to try to decide which one is the "best" continues the illusion that "standard" English is "better" English, rather than just a different set of arbitrary rules used for language.
Posted by Prof Knupsky | March 4, 2008 12:30 PM
Posted on March 4, 2008 12:30