[lg policy] Ghetto grammar robs the young of a proper voice

[Gareth Price]

More on language and rioting, this time from Lindsay Johns in the
London Evening Standard on Monday ...

In the wake of the riots, last Thursday evening, there was only one
topic of conversation among the young people I mentor in Peckham.
Thankfully, none of my mentees were involved in the disturbances. Yet
almost all told me they had received the mass BBM broadcasts, written
in street slang, inviting them to join in the thuggery.

The English language is an incredibly rich inheritance. Yet it is
being squandered by so many young people of all races and backgrounds.
Across London and other cities it is increasingly fashionable for them
to speak in an inarticulate slang full of vacuous words such as
"innit" and wilful distortions like "arks" for "ask" or tedious double
negatives.

Full story: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23978523-ghetto-grammar-robs-the-young-of-a-proper-voice.do

-- 
Dr. Gareth Price
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies
316 Languages Building, Box 90259
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0259
USA
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