If one were to study dialect variation and find that socioeconomic
status really did correlate strongly with dialect features, there'd be
no choice but to use class terminology. Yes, terms like 'middle-class'
and 'working-class' imply value judgments for a lot of people, but not,
we hope, for scholars doing objective research. The same thing happens
for 'standard' and 'nonstandard'. The reason people keep looking for new
labels for 'edited American English' etc. etc. etc. is that it's so easy
to associate 'standard' with 'good' and 'nonstandard' with 'bad'. It's a
good exercise in critical thinking to keep reminding people that terms
like these can have objective value, and there is no need to inject
value judgments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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