Bob,
   I thought this was a no-brainer. I would recommend Labov's "Language in
the Inner city" as well as Smitherman's work, but I assume you have
read them. Black English is not simply a broken form of standard
English, and the cultural patterns that come with it differ as well.
Certainly the rhetoric of Obama's pastor shocked people in part because
they had no way to put it into its cultural context. Many mainstream
Americans don't know what to make of rap. My students are very aware
that their community languages seem out of place in many situations.
   For my students, I would also include Spanglish and a number of hybrid
dialects. Their paths toward language maturity are very different.

Craig>

 What does the following mean?
>
>>>> Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> 2/3/2009 1:38 PM >>>
>    Are we to assume that children in an inner city neighborhood will
> develop language in the same way as the suburban kids, even though it's
> quite apparent that the cultural context and the languages themselves
> might differ remarkably? If we believe there's a "natural order", a
> "universal order", we may end up with deficit models that are
> misleading.
>
> ****
> What  is the cultural context and the language that might make them differ
> in remarkable ways?
>
> I have no idea what cultural context would result in a kind of English
> that would be remarkably different.
>
> Could someone provide examples?
>
> Bob Yates, University of Central Missouri
>
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