Bob Yates wrote:
> I wonder if the following statement might reinforce prejudices against
> language variation.
>
> > I also advocate [grammar teaching] because I believe that people need to
> > understand how language works as an aspect of the basic science of human
> > behavior and human social interaction -- language is the medium through
> > which virtually ALL human interaction is mediated, and profoundly
> > reflects thought and culture.
>
> If we take seriously the notion that language "profoundly reflects
> thought and culture," then what is the implication for non-standard
> dialects?  Do people who speak non-standard dialects think differently?
> How are such people's cultures profoundly different?
>
> If we take seriously that notion as a reason to teach grammar, I think
> we will not be basing our teaching on methodology that is positive and
> rewarding.  One of the strongest beliefs of iron-fisted prescriptivists,
> who take seriously this relationship, is that variation from the
> standard demonstrates laziness, ignorance, and/or stupidity.
>
Bob raises an important concern here. A good example of the notion
'language reflecting thought' that went seriously awry was the whole
Basil Bernstein restricted/elaborated code thing back in ?the sixties?
Bernstein decided that the language of the lower classes was
impoverished because the thought abilities of those classes were
impoverished; it led to a lot of harmful educational theorizing, and, no
doubt, worsened teachers' already low expectations of
lower-class-dialect-speaking kids.

One of the reasons I am more optimistic about people 'getting it' about
dialect variation this time, while they have not done so in the past in
spite of linguists' outraged fumings, is that we are now in a different
cultural context. 'The Culture Wars' is about accepting diverse cultures
and recognizing that Western culture isn't inherently superior over
other cultures; that 'folk cultures' aren't inherently inferior to
'technological cultures'. The advocacy of multicultural education
indicates an intellectual readiness in our culture to recognize dialect
prejudice as prejudice. My students come to this realization very
easily, especially when I draw a direct analogy to prejudice based on
other facts about people, and when I explain to the them how dialect
differences arise and how standard dialects get chosen.

Certainly, there are resisters, as the Oakland Ebonics debate showed.
But at least there was a debate! It's harder now for people to outright
condemn 'revision' of the prejudices of the dominant culture, if only
because of the new pressure of 'political correctness'. In many cases,
though, I believe that individuals truly want to find reasons NOT to be
prejudiced, and they LIKE the idea that 'nonstandard dialects are good'.
I certainly get the impression from many of my students that they are
_relieved_ at letting go of the good English/bad English myth. The fear
that remains is that students will fail to learn standard English if we
abandon the old obsession with correctness, and hence students will not
be well served by their education. But as the experience of some
teachers has shown, a more accurate approach to dialect difference often
_improves_ students' motivations to learn standard English. They finally
see it, not as proof that they are stupid, but as a language system that
they haven't been taught before and that they now have to master to
succeed.

As to minority cultures being 'profoundly' different from the dominant
culture, I believe that they may well be. Certainly, I think the culture
of the African American community -- a community whose life experiences
are so infused with the constant awareness of and battle against racism
-- has to be very different from the culture of the dominant, who have
experienced reality so very differently. I think the degree of
'differentness' varies with the culture in question. But the whole point
of the post-civil-rights-movement era is that 'different' does not mean
'worse' or 'better', just 'different'. If people truly accept this
notion, language reflecting different culture doesn't inexorably lead to
'bad English therefore bad culture' or vice versa.

If people _don't_ accept this notion, they're likely to remain
prejudiced no matter what you try to teach them.

Dare we hope?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-259
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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"Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
but that's not why people do it normally"  -            Frank  Oppenheimer
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