A minor point, but while we do need the language of wider communication and we must, as we all agree, prepare our students to compete, what makes the language of wider communication what it is is not that it "can communicate thoroughly and precisely the meanings we need to communicate across geographical, cultural, and ethnic boundaries" but, simply and tautologically, that it is the language of wider communication.  It is its status as the prestige dialect that makes it acceptable across various boundaries, not its linguistic properties.



Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
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>>> [log in to unmask] 11/08/01 09:56AM >>>
 But we need a language in the English-speaking world that can
communicate thoroughly and precisely the meanings we need to communicate
across geographical, cultural, and ethnic boundaries.  We, as teachers,
scholars, writers, editors, etc., have a responsibility to ensure the
availability of that language to all persons who need to communicate across
those boundaries.  

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