Spreading the Word: Language and Dialect in AmericaThe idea that there is one "best" English is so intuitively plausible and so relentlessly inculcated in us that it is only natural to attempt to uphold this "Standard" among our students. Our error is in thinking that anything that deviates from this Standard is wrong. In Spreading the Word, linguist John McWhorter proves that these nonstandard dialects are not bastardizations of Standard English, but alternate variations upon the basic plan of English, of which the Standard is but one. With a general focus on classroom applications, McWhorter makes accessible to teachers, teacher educators, and administrators basic language principles that are commonly accepted by linguists, but rarely disseminated to a general audience. Using data from several different languages, McWhorter shows that the speech differences we hear in America are qualitatively equivalent to those heard in other parts of the world where the same differences are not considered "bad language." He links his thesis not only to "prescriptive grammar," but to more immediate issues facing classroom teachers, such as Black English and code switching between Spanish and English. A complete chapter is dedicated to showing how mixture between languages is a worldwide and natural phenomenon, rather than a language-ravaging "accident." Spreading the Word closes with a brief overview of eight of the most spoken languages in this country that are least like English. In doing so, McWhorter helps us come to view the language palette that exists in our classrooms as an asset not a problem. Most of all, he reinforces our best instincts about accepting and celebrating our students language, while giving us solid grounds for doing so. |
From inside the book
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... example , has a Southern White accent , but one would never know this from written copies of his State of the Union addresses . Structure Our third component , structure , is as vital a component in speech as words and sounds . What I ...
... example is Ojibwe ( oh - JIB - way ) , a language spoken by Native Americans in the Great Lakes region ( roll Ojibwe around in your mouth and you get Chippewa , the " Euro " name for the group ) . Ojibwe has several words for many ...
... example . This different meaning of had in Black English can be very confusing to non - speakers , even someone like me who grew up not speaking the dialect but hearing it used in context quite a bit . Singing Our Songs Other cross ...