Patty,
Your husband is certainly not the only principal who practices this kind of
dialect switching. I work with a group of urban high school English teachers
on grammar and language instruction, and they have often pointed out that
they see their principals (there are two) as modeling the kind of effective
code-switching between dialects that they would like to see their students
learn. The teachers, interestingly, have attributed the principals' skill at
varying dialects for different audiences and purposes to their training as
ministers. I then found out from a graduate student who also teaches at a
local seminary that the value of code-switching has long been a part of the
training of African American preachers, so there may be something to the
teachers' theory. 

Amanda

On 1/9/06 11:23 AM, "Patricia Lafayllve" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Craig wrote:
> 
>     I'm more and more uncomfortable these days with the notion that
> dialects are OK, but not "acceptable" in public discourse.  I don't
> think that's at all true (public writing is far more interesting than
> that) or desirable.  Effective writers draw on all their language
> resources. And when mainstream writers do that, they enrich all our
> lives.
>    
> 
> This is a digression from the main points being discussed.  What Craig said
> above rang a chord in my head, though, and it might be worth noting.  My
> husband is a high school administrator (assistant principal) in an urban
> setting.  He is also very touchy about using SWE - he actually corrects my
> English, and more often than not, he's right!
> 
> That said, he has also taught himself the varying dialects in his student
> population.  He uses multiple dialects in his work as a way to enforce, and
> reinforce, his own points.  In short, he knows when to speak, and how to
> speak, in a variety of situations and to the greatest effect.
> 
> This is something I admire in him, and a point which I think it would be
> good to note.  Having the rules, and operating within them, greatly enhances
> one's ability to communicate - and that does mean knowing when to speak
> which dialect.
> 
> I am certain that my husband is not the only one who practices this.  I just
> wanted to digress a moment and suggest that, as Craig mentions, not only do
> effective writers draw on their language resources, so do effective people
> in general terms.
> 
> -patty
> 
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*****
Amanda J. Godley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
English Education
University of Pittsburgh
412-648-7313
    

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