change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing

[Wilson Gray]

Not to mention certain pronunciations and turns of phrase that are now
felt as standard. Several years ago, I came across a reprint of a
perhaps century-old book with a title something like, A Lexicon of the
Speech of the Southern-Alabama Negro. Though I've tried for the past
couple of years to track down this publication, I've not been
successful. I've been hoping to see it mentioned by someone here, but,
so far, I''ve been SOL. IAC, the number of now-ordinary words and
phrases that the compiler specifies as peculiar to the speech of black
Southern-Alabamians is quite surprising. Unfortunately, I can recall
only one trivial example: the pronunciation of the verb, "stamp," as
though it was spelled "stomp," a pronunciation that some authors, e.g.
Roger Abrahams, WRT the speech of black Philadelphians, still
considered to be only a black thang as recently as the '60's.

-Wilson

On 4/17/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I agree, though Black English is not the only source.  However, it certainly has contributed a great number of (more or less) identifiable slang expressions to general American English since the Swing Era and especially since the 1960s.
>
>   Slang by (my) definition originates in contexts regarded as indecorous by speakers of prestige dialects.
>
>   JL
>
> Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Amy West
> Subject: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hmmm...I like CPE; however I wonder if my students will be more
> confused if I use that while our Longman's Writer's Companion uses
> SWE.
>
> I'm much more interested by the "phonetic changes work up" statement.
> I've run across a similar analysis relating to slang terms entering
> the language in a chapter in _Slam Dunks & No-Brainers_ where the
> author argues that many slang terms work their way "up" from Black
> Vernacular English into the dominant dialect. Being a newbie, I
> wasn't sure if this was a consensus view in the field or not.
>
> ---Amy West
>
> >I use, and prefer, the term Conventional Plublic English, rather than
> >Standard English, because, of course, there are no language standards, just
> >lots of opinions, and opinions influence conventions, but not standards.
> >Labov's, Wolfram's and Trudgill's research indicates that phonetic changes
> >work up rather than down suggests that conventions, not standards, are
> >altered from below. Have you looked at your son's pants lately?
> >
> >JCS
>
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