Since we're quoting Shakespeare, I cannot resist: "We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us" (Hamlet 5.1137-38). I guess this idea of code-switching isn't so new after all. Paul D. ----- Original Message ---- From: Geoffrey Layton <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Monday, September 4, 2006 11:11:40 AM Subject: Re: Discrimination? 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 To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/