:-) mostly -- McWhorter on "standard English"

[Judy Prince]

I agree, Amy.  Students are well advised to awareness of their "dialects",
to detach their embarrassments about them even as they strive to rid
themselves of them.  Wise, as well, to have them read every poem of Tom
Leonard, to listen to him, to dig into theirs and others' "dialects",
uncovering the joys and magic of their words, phrasings, lilts, rhythms,
idioms.  Ignorance of our own way of speaking, of its "parity" with all
others' often concludes with shame and, often as well, arrogance by those
who adopt the power language of the day, as all of us on this list have
done.

Paul Batchelor's excellent, brief* Guardian* online review of Tom Leonard's
most recent book of poems, *Outside* *The Narrative*:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/17/poetry-leonard-batchelor-review

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/17/poetry-leonard-batchelor-review>Tom
Leonard reading his prose piece called "Honest":
ftp://ibiblio.com/pub/multimedia/radio4all/radio/akpress/leonard-08.mp3

All the best,

Judy

"An Oxford Dictionary of An English Language" (poster poem by Tom Leonard].



2010/1/15 Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com>

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: :-) mostly -- McWhorter on "standard English"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, maybe we need to start putting "dialect" in after "Standard
> English". I think I might start putting "Standard American Written
> English dialect" in my composition syllabus to emphasize its
> linguistic parity with Appalachian dialects, Southern dialects, etc.
>
> ---Amy West
>
> >I'm now myself prepared to use the term "dialect", but always with the
> >implicit proviso that Standard English (or American or Scots) is simply
> one
> >dialect of the many dialects of English, with no linguistically
> priviledged
> >position.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org