DW 1b

One of the ideas what stuck out to me from our readings was mych #3 in Leah A. Zuidema's "Myth Education: Rationale and Strategies for Teaching Against Linguistic Prejudice." The myth states that standard english is better than all other varieties of english. Leah asks us about what really is "good" and "bad" english. She also talks about how we think that only the most educated and intelligent people speak perfect standard english all the time. In reality, does anyone actually speak this type of english?

All throughout my school years teachers have taught us to use standard english. They made sure we knew the proper grammar and spelling. We had to put things in the correct order all the time. These teachers pounded into our heads that if we could not use this standard english all the time then we would not be successful. We were always corrected if we said something wrong and papers were always graded on how perfect our grammar was. It is hard to be perfect all the time. Especially when away from school no one uses that standard english because it is too formal.

When I think back to high school I can remember the paper that I wrote that I am most proud of. It was first semester of my sophomore year and we had to write a paper on a moment in our life that changed the way we looked at things. I knew exactly what I wanted to write about and how I was going to do it. When I sat down to write that paper it was easy and I loved the way it sounded after my first draft. It said everything I wanted to say how I wanted to say it so I didn't bother doing too much editing besides a few commas here and there. I may have gotten points marked off for my improper grammar but even my teacher thought it was a fantastic paper with great content.

I don't really think it should matter so much if you use perfect standard english. I think communicating is really all about the content of what you say. I understand that people have to be able to understand you but its ok to not be so perfect all the time. There are and always will be times when it is necessary to use this proper english but I don't think its nearly as often as we are told. As long as we say what we mean and mean what we say it shouldn't matter that I misplaced a comma or switched a few words around. No one is perfect. Not even the smartest people in the world. There are so many dialects of english that who says we all have to use this "standard" english. We don't even really know what that is since no dialect is even close to that.

DW 1a

My use of language in both reading and writing are so different at home then it is at school. Throughout all my years, teachers have pounded into my head the "proper" way to talk. What really is the proper way to talk though? I can hear the differences in me depending on where I am and I can hear it in other people as well. Teachers and employers have this image that there is only one way you should talk but even they do not use the same language all the time. There are even differences in reading and writing.

It really amazes me how different the same conversation can be either at school or at home. I can be talking about the exact same thing but minus the context of the sentence nothing is similar about it. The other day I realized that I have a statistics test on the same day as a career fair I was hoping to attend. They were at the same time and obviously I can't skip a test but I really wanted to go to the career fair to get a feel for jobs that interest me. Originally I talked to my mom about how I was going to talk to my professor to see if I could take the test on another day. That conversation sounded something like this, "Yeah, so I found out the time for the career fair and guess what, I have a test that day. I guess I'm gonna have to talk to the prof to see if maybe I can take it some other time. I hope he lets me do that, it would suck to miss this thing." Those few sentences sound so casual. When I asked the professor if I could take the test another time the conversation sounded more like this, "We have a test on February 11 and there is a career fair in Detroit that I was hoping to attend. Is there anyway I can come by your office to take it at another time?" Those two conversations are talking about the exact same thing but they are said in completely different ways. Neither is necessarily more correct but they fit the situation at hand.

Not only is my speech different but the way I write at home and school are very different. This blog post is for school so it sounds much more formally written than if I were talking to a friend online. If I were to type this paper as I would talking to my friend, the previous two sentences would look more like this, "speech and writing are diff at home and school..im doing this post for school..its more formal..not like im talkin to you..." It is easy to see the differences. They say the exact same thing but the second one is very choppy and not real sentences. There is little to no punctuation and the grammar is far from "proper."

Despite the obvious differences between language from home and school the point of the conversation still gets across. We all learn early on to switch our language depending on the situation. We learn when to use formal speech and when we can be informal. I recognize the differences but I know that both ways are okay and they can both be understood. The "proper" way to talk may not necessarily be correct as they tell us in school.

IAR of "It Bees Dat Way Sometime"

What is invention?
-study of AAE language
-comparing and contrasting AAE to SAE
-translating AAE to SAE and vice versa
-determine rules for AAE

What is being invented?
-AAE has its own specific rules to follow
-There is correct and incorrect AAE
-AAE speakers can generally speak AAE and SAE depending on the situation
-AAE is a proper way to speak even if everyone doesn't realize it
-AAE has a language of words and a style of what to do with the words

What is being arranged?
-language to style
-style to specific sounds
-specific sounds to use of the word "be"
-use of the word "be" to non use of the word "be"
-non use of the word "be" to use of word "been"
-use of word "been" to to use of word "done"
-use of word "done" to use of context or conversation to determine time
-use of context or conversation to determine time to the same verb for all subjects
-the same verb to all subjects to plurality
-plurality to stressing subjects
-stressing subjects to use of negatives
-use of negatives to not every black using the all the rules all the time
-not every black using all the rules all the time to poems by Langston Hughes

What is arrangement?
-one point to the next
-building on previously known things
-examples
-comparing and contrasting
-general to specific

What is being revised?
-idea that AAE has no rules
-proving that AAE is a language
-dismissing beliefs that AAE speakers are "dumb"
-showing how AAE relates to SAE

What is revision?
-examples of conversations
-examples of specific sentences in AAE and SAE
-incorrect forms of AAE compared to correct forms
-use of poet to get final point across
-using both AAE and SAE styles in context