The Room for Debate series of blog posts between Bryan A. Garner and Robert Lane Greene presents to the reader two distinct views on various topics including that of authority in language, what makes a good and a bad rule, and what the purpose of these rules is. After reading the posts and doing some research on the people they mention, I noticed that the majority of them, whether lexicographers, linguists or writers (descriptivist or prescriptivist), had privileged upbringings and were educated at prestigious universities. The definition of linguistics is, ‘the scientific study of language and its structure’, and the definition of language is, ‘the method of human communication, either spoken or written’. Academics represent only a small percentage of British and American society (British and American English are the two variants mentioned in Room for Debate), and language is something that all humans use, therefore in this essay I will analyse and explore the views of Greene and Garner from a linguistic and social point of view.
In his first post, When Prescriptivists over Prescribe, Greene begins by admitting that there are “a set of standard conventions everyone needs for formal writing and speaking.” which is sociolinguistically logical. A Briton who speaks with a “Received Pronunciation” accent, pronounces the letter ’t’ in the word “Britain”, however someone who speaks with a “Cockney” accent/dialect usually substitutes phonemes with a glottal stop [bɹɪʔən]. Trying to communicate this through written language (graphemes) without using the prescribed ‘standard’ variant, would cause much confusion between different dialect areas, which could negatively impact society due to fellow citizens not being able to communicate effec...
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...to social factors, one has to expect to discover discrimination and unfairness due to human nature, as these things exist in every society in the world.
who, in my opinion, want to be viewed by society as being ‘intelligent’, ‘superior’ or more ‘educated’ than their counterparts.
Well educated Britsh and American ‘prescriptivists’ know how to use Standard English and Standard American English in way that enables them to ‘succeed’ (or at least not be penalised) within their society. However the downside of this, is that nothing is being done about the stigma surrounding “the real-world mess of dialects and slang” which the “often incorrect prescriptivist masses” sneer at so readily.
Works Cited
Thomas Shapiro; Tatjana Meschede; Sam Osoro (February 2013). "The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap: Explaining the Black-White Economic Divide”
Oxford dictionary
Black Economics In Black Economics William Raspberry offers a personal insight into the economics of the black American, but as he states Raspberry is “neither a businessman, an economist, nor a social scientist.” He presents his views without analysis and his solutions without a business outlook; instead Raspberry looks to the people for the cause and the answer. William Raspberry makes a bold effort by calling on his race, the African Americans, for both the cause and solution to their economic problems. Raspberry chooses to open up with two myths about race, helping to set the tone of the paper. The first myth he deals with is that “race is of overriding importance, that it is a determinant not just of opportunity but also of potential, a reliable basis for explaining political and economic realities . . . ” He explains that it is easy to see how race has assumed such importance in the mythology since slavery is the very reason blacks are present in America. Raspberry continues to elaborate on the topic of slavery to produce the central theme of the myth: the myth of white superiority. There are two things that flow from the “racism-is-all” myth that are used to account for the difficulties of blacks. The first, Raspberry states, is that it puts the solution to their difficulties outside their control, and second it causes blacks to think of their problems in terms of a failure of racial justice. With the second result Raspberry elaborates by calling on civil rights. Income gaps, education gaps, test-score gaps, infant-mortality gaps, employment gaps, business-participation gaps, as stated by Raspberry are all now talked about as “civil rights” issues. He points out that the gaps are real, but that describing them as “civil rights” issues steers us away from possible solutions, and that while doing this the problems grow worse. He offers a comparison to a group of poor whites that are in a similar economic standing as blacks and are granted their full civil rights. So how can the lack of civil rights be responsible for their economic conditions when other groups are just as bad off without the racism factor? So if the racism myth is not the cause of the blacks difficulties, then what does Raspberry offer as the reason? To him the operating myth of blacks accounts for their condition, leading them to focus on the misdistribution of opportunities.
It is apparent that there are many types of dialect within American English. The coexisting of two or more languages, either serving together in the same area or servicing different areas, is as old as language itself (Pei 106). This has happened throughout time and appears to be inevitable. It is impossible to believe an entire country could conform to one language, and then only one dialect of that language. Throughout history societies have survived for some time using different languages until these language barriers tore territories apart. It is apparent how, in America, barriers between dialects separate black men from white men even more than physical conditions.
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...
To find the accumulated wealth disparity between whites and blacks Oliver and Shapiro first had to start with an analytical distinction between wealth and income. After all, simply glancing at Forbes Magazine’s list of top income earners for 2011 appears to indicate that the once prominent socioeconomic disparity among whites and blacks has vanished. Over the past decade, famous black individuals such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson have all topped the charts as the highest income earners in America. At some points in recent history, blacks have even accounted for half of the top ten highest earners, an outstanding feat considering blacks account for only about 13% of the USA population. This picture painted by the list of highest income earners however, only tells half the story. Contrary to Forbes’ highest income list is Forbes’ profile of the 400 wealthiest Americans. This list contains few if any African Americans. Therefore, to explain this disparity a clear distinction had to be made between what is wealth and what is income.
In Robert MacNeil’s article “Do You Speak American?” MacNeil discusses how the United States English started to become more diverse through the ongoing changes in the way English is being spoken throughout the States.MacNeil includes different demographics, groups of people and dialects to depict the progress that has come about over the years. With this in mind, he wants people to view this change as a step in the right direction.He aims to persuade people who are against this shift, so they can grow to tolerate and view this growth in a more positive manner. Since this article was published after his show on PBS in USA magazine he aims to convince people who have an above average knowledge of the English language to view change as a progressive
The issue of racial income inequality is seen in James Surowiecki’s “The Widening Racial Wealth Divide”, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, and in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. First off, Surowiecki explains that the wealth divide between Caucasians and African Americans is growing at a rapid pace. Specifically, he elucidates, “White households own, on average, seven times as much wealth as African-American households” (Surowiecki). The writer suggests that this is due to the tremendously high unemployment rates and the low salaries that African Americans experience compared to those of white Americans. However, if an individual successfully completes tasks at his or her job, race should not be a factor in how much money he or
When it comes to the education of the English language, every class tends to have their different views on what is constituted as proper writing. These views, also known as prescriptive rules, create many flaws for children growing up with an education which eventually will impact the general English language. A shibboleth, known as a word or way of speaking and behaving which proves that a person belongs to a particular group, is one of Pinker’s ways of explaining how proper writing within a class is depicted (Pinker 375). In his reading The Language Mavens, Pinker states that prescriptive rules have to be enforced consistently in order to be understood, providing a brief understanding that language may be
David Wallace’s purpose for writing his essay, “Authority and American Usage”, was to give a book review on Bryan Garner’s, “A Dictionary of Modern American Usage”. Wallace does this tremendously; in doing so, he provides references to other dictionaries showing the good and bad aspects of them. He then goes on to explain how Garner’s dictionary does a very good job at staying neutral in the so-called “Usage Wars”. Wallace explains how there are two main viewpoints that derive from today’s standard written English (SWE): descriptivism and prescriptivism (which Wallace often refers to as being a SNOOT). With the viewpoint of descriptivism comes the ideology that SWE should not have a strict set of rules or guidelines. On the other hand, as Wallace says, prescriptivists believe that a definite set of rules is what brings meaning to SWE. The term, “Usage Wars”, is what Wallace uses to depict the clashing ideology of descriptivists and SNOOT’s.
With these information about wealth and history, it is concluded that one of four races considered nonwhite have one chance of growing in their economy. The racial wealth gap can take people back in time to see how the economy of the nation was created. There is no fairness in base of the economy. If each one of the citizens in the coutry are considered equal under the law, why can’t it be the same in the economy? Segregation and discrimination continue to exist in the nation. Whites are not considered equal as nonwhites. In conclusion, if this gap between the races perdures to be open there will never be true equality and justice.
The distinction between Black Vernacular English and Standard English, occurs at three levels of linguistics, however “AAVE is just like any other dialect of English; has its own innovations but remains strongly influenced by the standard” (Butters 60), this means that Black Vernacular has its own rules in the English language.
Maybe part of my opinion is based on spite: If I had to learn all the dos and don’ts of modern English, so should you. But I think it’s more then just that. I can see the writing on the wall and it’s not looking too bright. Dumbing down the language to simplest terms can be a very dangerous thing. Don’t believe me, flip through a copy of Orwell’s 1984 and you’ll see how Big Brother has developed a “plainspeak” directive. In fact, I’m not alone in this belief. In Sven Birket’s article “Into the Electronic Millennium” he discusses the devolution of modern language: “The complexity and distinctiveness of spoken and written expression, which are deeply bound to traditions of print literacy, will gradually be replaced by a more telegraphic sort of ‘plainspeak’” (70).
Sharma, B., 2008. “World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, and English Pedagogy”, Journal of NELTA 13 (2), pp. 121-130. Available from
"Varieties of English: American and British." Switched On Schoolhouse. CD-ROM Rock Rapids, Michigan Alpha Omega Publications 2008.
We are now living in a globalised world where cultural diversity is considered as the norm, which resulted in international and intercultural communication skills being essential. English language spread in accordance with the process of globalisation. Because it was passed on to many different nations with diverse cultural perspectives, the ownership of English no longer belongs to typical English speaking inner circle countries (Kachru, B. B., 1984). Since international communication involves an international language, it is vital that we are informed of the concept of changed ‘ownership’ of English language, by considering denationalisation and renationalisation. This will then enable us to understand and communicate well in between different
In a sociolinguist perspective “the idea of a spoken standardized language is a hypothetical construct” (Lippi-Green, 2012, pp. 57). They are the form of Britain English and American English that are used in textbooks and on broadcasting. Giles and Coupland observe that “A standard variety is the one that is most often associated with high socioeconomic status, power and media usage in a particular community” (1991, p. 38). Both native speakers and learners of English, where English is taught as a second or foreign language (hereafter ESL/EFL), speak dialect of English in everyday conversation (Kachru, 2006, pp. 10-11; Owens 2012, p.