From:  "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
>What you are describing, however, is one narrow range of code switching, 
>one in which a person uses code from outside the community's dialect and is 
>penalized for doing so.

Herb - You are absolutely correct - the case of switching from AAVE to 
"standard English" is limited to black students in general and inner-city 
blacks in particular.  However, this is such a serious issue that it needs 
more attention, I think, than other cases of the phenomenon.

>Code switching, linguitsically and behaviorally, is a neutral phenomenon 
>that we all participate in.  When you throw in an "ain't", for emphasis, in 
>class or in conversation with a colleague, that's code switching.

Absolutely!  I love T. S. Eliot's line about putting on "a face to meet the 
faces that we meet."  This concept supports a lesson on acting and 
performance - that, as Shakespeare says, "all the world's a stage."  "Is you 
is, or is you ain't?  I be lovin' it!"

Nice points!

Geoff

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