What you're describing as well-spokenness is mastery of what's known as
Standard English, a contested term that we'll just decide to live with
for now.  Standard English began to develop in the late 14th c. as the
English of the London Chancery, the office particularly responsible land
litigation in the wake of the Black Death that afflicted most of Europe
in the middle of the century.  This dialect gained further support in
the 15th c. with the introduction of the printing press to England.
When William Caxton set up his London printing business around 1480, he
chose the prestige dialect of the literate classes in SE England as the
dialect he would print, and his spelling, the foundation of modern
spelling, reflected their pronunciation.  Grammars started being written
at about that time and a tradition developed that fostered what we call
Standard English until in the 18th c., with the rise of the Middle
Class, educated London English became the Standard.  This Standard
English was passed along in educated families, and as more families
became educated it spread farther.  Certain features of Standard English
grammar, like the grammar of wh-relative clauses and the more frequent
use of other subordinate clauses, not to mention the use of more
Latinate and Franco-Latin vocabulary, became markers of Standard
English.  Children in these households were exposed to such English from
birth, and so when they started school they had an advantage over the
classmates who had a working class background.

 

Children from a working class background may acquire Standard English in
school, but many don't.  One question I've had my undergrads consider is
the English spoken by them, the ones who went on to higher education, as
opposed to those who did not, and they recognized immediately an
important divide between the two that shows up in mastery of Standard
English.  With it you can go on to higher education and prestigious
careers; without it it's much more difficult to do so.

 

There was a fascinating and poignant article in the Chronicle of Higher
Education some years back, an autobiographical piece by a young faculty
member who had come from a working class background.  She was the first
of her family to go beyond high school.  She was still uncomfortable
with her mastery of Standard English, and she wrote about how the few
faculty colleagues of hers who came from working class backgrounds
shared her sense of linguistic insecurity and fear of committing a
linguistic faux pas.  She mentioned that there were words found in
educated spoken vocabulary that she and her friends had never confronted
in speech and they ran the risk of mispronouncing them.  In a higher
education faculty environment, as she found out, mispronunciation of
certain words can be seriously stigmatizing, even in a career
threatening way.

 

So much for the classless society.

 

Herb

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad Johnston
Sent: 2008-02-06 22:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: a president who has a strong command of the English language

 

Is it true that well-spoken-ness starts with the acquisition of grammar
and vocabulary by the young, i.e., school children? Is that whence it
comes?

 

Carol Morrison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

 

I am curious to see which of the candidates has the best grammar and who
is the most well-spoken. I will be listening attentively to upcoming
speeches, interviews, and press conferences. It would be nice to have a
president who has a strong command of the English language. That person
will get my vote (maybe). Any favorites?

CLM

  

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