change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing

[Jonathan Lighter]

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:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Amy West
Subject: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
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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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