Critical age

[Peter Richardson]

I wonder whether the socioeconomic argument for use of standard language
(however that might be perceived) isn't more compelling than has been
suggested. That is, when young people realize that they need to command
the standard in order to survive, or even prevail, in a world that places
great stock in appearances (whether these be skin color, accent, or
vocabulary/syntax), they will--nolens volens--begin to become bidialectal.
The realization that the standard is spoken by those who have power over
the lives of those who don't speak it is pretty alarming, I'll wager, and
my guess is that that realization can come like a lightning bolt or on
little cat feet, depending on the person and the circumstances. Ambrose
Bierce anticipated this argument nicely when he termed language "the music
we use to charm the serpents guarding another's treasure" (or something to
that effect; I don't have the Devil's Dictionary at hand right now).

Peter Richardson