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<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>My master’s degree advisor said it
best: “A dialect is what somebody else speaks.” Also “a
language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=2 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:blue'>Kristine Fitch<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
owner-linganth@ats.rochester.edu [mailto:owner-linganth@ats.rochester.edu] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Robert Lawless<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, March 29, 2007
12:44 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> linganth@cc.rochester.edu<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Linganth]
[Linguistic Anthropology] Listening to Prescriptivists</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>When I first moved from the South to the Midwest, the <st1:place w:st="on">Midwest</st1:place>
dialect did, indeed, sounds very "dialectical" to me. Specifically it
sounds as though people were talking through their noses. Also, the
"standard English" on the radio of national newscasters sounded to me
as though they were talking in the back of their throats. Isn't what's labeled
a dialect simply the speech of someone from a different region? To my ear, the
least "marked" American speech is found in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>. Robert.<br>
<br>
At 11:41 AM 3/29/2007, Kephart, Ronald wrote:<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 3/29/07 12:15 PM,
"Alexandre" <enkerli@gmail.com> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Why do Michiganders think they speak the most
“correct” form of English in <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>? This one sounds quite close to a
comment made by a <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Midwesterner (probably a Michigander, actually) in the
movie American <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tongues <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/"
eudora=autourl><</a>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/<a
href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303637/" eudora=autourl>></a> . Can't
remember the exact <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>quote (maybe it's YouTubed) but the gist of it was
that "In the Midwest, the <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>way we speak is pretty boring." Yes, something
close to Standard American <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>English. But not as an elevated dialect of the
language. More as an umarked <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>variety with nothing fun to it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>Coincidentally, I just showed this film in
my class. The speaker is from <br>
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State>, and
also describes his speech as “middle-of-the-road, straight out of <br>
the dictionary, no accents, no colloquialisms,” and so on. Of course as
you <br>
suggest, the distinguishing feature of this dialect is that there are no <br>
“marked” features, such as you find in Appalachian, or African
American, or <br>
some varieties of <st1:State w:st="on">new York</st1:State> or <st1:place
w:st="on">New England</st1:place>. “Standard” English is really <br>
defined by what it lacks, rather than by what it actually is. If it lacks <br>
rules that tense the vowel in egg or that delete r’s in park the car,
it’s <br>
more likely to sound “standard.”<br>
<br>
This semester by the way I’m struggling with an African American student
who <br>
is one of the Black English deniers. She virtually took over my class to <br>
denounce our workbook’s suggestion that “Is it a Miss Smith in this
office?” <br>
means “Is there...” She’s a non-traditional student in
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType> of <br>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Education</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, which means she
is or is destined to be a teacher. We’re all <br>
doomed.<br>
<br>
Ron</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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