Johanna,
I was being something of a socialist. My implication was not that there are
no speakers of English who are middle class, but that there is no single
dialect for the middle class. What is usually referred to as "Standard
English" belongs to speakers and writers of any socioeconomic class who go
to the trouble of learning it. That happens to be very easy for certain
middle class speakers because Standard English is similar to their native
dialect. That dialect, however, includes large numbers of lower and upper
class speakers along with the middle class speakers. If, on the other hand,
you visit Arkansas, you will find the middle class speaking a dialect that
isn't as much like Standard English.
There is a difference between what we might (with reservations) call
white-collar and blue-collar dialects in most regions, but that does not
differentiate between middle and lower class. There are many blue-collar
speakers of regional dialect who are solidly middle class, and many
white-collar speakers who are lower class.
You might notice that I am equating class in America with economics.
Education will bring us somewhat closer to the standard dialect, but even
that doesn't do it entirely because we are a nation of universal education.
Many lower class speakers respond to the school environment and learn to
speak standard English without actually moving away from their lower class
roots.
What I am advocating is that we should abandon lower, middle, and upper
class as linguistic metalanguage. In America, other than economics, we have
no objective means of defining "middle class." And, in America, money does
not define "class." A fellow who picks up my trash has a high school
diploma, speaks Ozark dialect, and makes more money than I do as a
university professor; and, perhaps, he deserves the money. What is his
class? How about the Kansas City pharmacist who speaks perfect Standard
English, is a director in his church, and made (perhaps) millions by
diluting medications for cancer patients? Is he middle or upper class? I'm
quite sure the lower class doesn't want to claim him. In language study, we
need to use terms that are descriptors of context. "Class" terms can't
escape their epistemological roots in evaluation (superiors and inferiors)
and, thus, are prejudicial descriptors.
Jeff Glauner
Associate Professor of English
Park University, Box 1303
8700 River Park Drive
Parkville MO 64152
[log in to unmask]
http://www.park.edu/jglauner/index.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Johanna Rubba [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 7:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: who or whom
Jeff,
Do you mean to say that there are no middle-class speakers of English? ;-)
Which dialect do middle-class people speak? What are the bases for
dialect differences? Region, class, what? Can these be mixed?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue * San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184 * Fax: (805)-756-6374 * Dept. Phone. 756-2596
* E-mail: [log in to unmask] * Home page:
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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