Dialect is a variety of language used by people from a particular geographic area. This language is a complete system of verbal communication with its own vocabulary and grammar ("Dialect").In America today, the common language is English. But what does English mean? While Standard English is still the most commonly accepted language, there are many dialects within the English language. There exists American English, British English, and Indian English ("Dialect"). Within American English, there exists southern English, northeastern English, Californian English, and even Hoosier English. So, if in American there is a large amount of dialects throughout the country, how is each dialect to communicate with the others?
[...] Linguists, according to a PBS article entitled You Speak American?” know that language variety does not correlate with intelligence or competence. There are popular associations of certain varieties or English with professional and intellectual competence that run deep in society. The fact that some varieties of a language are more standard than others is a product of social facts. Higher-status groups impose behavior, including language, on others You Speak American?”). The truth is that regardless of what one speaks, everyone speaks with some sort of a dialect even if it is a bland one. [...]
[...] Wolfram agreed, it is not about being a better or worse person; it is about how one presents himself to the world. The academic and business world has preconceived notions about what it means to be an educated person. These notions may not be entirely fair. Again though, a common dialect of Standard English is necessary for efficient communication in both the academic and business world. Works Cited “Appalachian English.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Nov 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_English “Dialect.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Nov 2006. [...]
[...] While the common idea in America is that dialect is a tell-tale sign of the less intelligent, sociolinguists see it differently. They see dialect as simply a variety of a language and believe that language is a reflection of a people (Hamilton). Ebonics, at the most literal level, means “black speech.” The word is a combination of the words ebony, or black, and phonics, or sound (Rickford). The term Ebonics was created in 1973 by a group of black scholars who disliked the negative connotations of terms like “Nonstandard Negro English.” The term Ebonics never really caught on, especially not with the general public, until in December of 1996 when an Oakland, California school board recognized Ebonics as the “primary” language of its majority African American students and resolved to take it into account in teaching them standard or academic English (Rickford). [...]
[...] For example, the educated form—without mastery of the educated form of a language, it's very hard to be successful in schools or in a professional marketplace,” says Taylor (Hamilton). Taylor recognizes that it is a challenge for schools and educational institutions to teach kids to speak the language of education without denigrating the speaker, as does Wolfram. Wolfram says, “Children should not be told they have to learn Standard English because they're ‘linguistically deficient.' All that does is set those children up to feel inferior and create a dynamic of resistance to the school experience (Hamilton).” Wolfram says, rather, that it's not about being a better or worse person. [...]
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