I always love when cough “educated” people (usually just what they like to say when they mean “not black”) go on about how “black people don’t speak proper English!” because certain vowels can be dropped here or there, grammar shifts, the works. Most of us have heard AAE (also maybe heard it called “Ebonics” if you’re a little older) at one point or another, and likely don’t have an issue understanding what anyone is saying. A few things that skew more metaphorical or slang words might slip by but you get the gist.
That’s the point of language. Convey information. If the information is conveyed, then language has done its job. Yay language.
If anyone wants to continue saying “it’s not PROPER English” well… I have bad news for you. Neither is any other modern form of English. So many words have been borrowed, or stolen, sentence structures have changed, entire words change meaning. And that’s just in the last 100 years.
English is an amalgamation of many different root languages, and has so many borrowed words and phrases, along with nearly every other modern language, can any of them still be said to be “proper”?
When I think of the difference between “proper English” and “improper English” I’m reminded of My Fair Lady. “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain” Eliza vs Henry Higgins (or 'enry 'iggins if you’re feeling improper)
I agree with most of what you said so I’ll focus only on a specific point, OK?
That’s the point of language. Convey information. If the information is conveyed, then language has done its job. Yay language.
There’s another point of language, besides conveying information, that is relevant here: identity. Different people speak different varieties because this allows them to express “this is who I am, I speak like my peers”.
That’s why AAE speakers use their varieties on first place - it’s a way to tell the world “I’m black, this is who I am, I identify myself with other black people”. And also why those varieties get such a stigma - because in USA, they want people to feel bad for being who they are, if they’re black. (NB: I’m not from USA, but this is so fucking obvious that even an external observer gets it.)
Of course there is a proper english. As defined by standard grammatical rules of the English language. A dialect is a variation upon that. I am not saying “black people don’t speak proper English”. There are plenty of black people who speak proper English, the same as there are plenty of white people who speak proper English and plenty of white people who speak dialects. I am saying that any and all dialects are not formal English, by definition of what the grammatical rules of the language are
There is no set of standard grammatical rules for any language. There are current standards for existing dialects, and they change all the time. The strict and steadfast rules of a Londoner’s English are different from those of a Bostonian’s English or Californian’s English. And go back fifty years and those rules in all of those places were different still. Your prescriptivist nonsense is not based on material reality, and you are using it to justify nothing short of your racist prejudices
I always love when cough “educated” people (usually just what they like to say when they mean “not black”) go on about how “black people don’t speak proper English!” because certain vowels can be dropped here or there, grammar shifts, the works. Most of us have heard AAE (also maybe heard it called “Ebonics” if you’re a little older) at one point or another, and likely don’t have an issue understanding what anyone is saying. A few things that skew more metaphorical or slang words might slip by but you get the gist.
That’s the point of language. Convey information. If the information is conveyed, then language has done its job. Yay language.
If anyone wants to continue saying “it’s not PROPER English” well… I have bad news for you. Neither is any other modern form of English. So many words have been borrowed, or stolen, sentence structures have changed, entire words change meaning. And that’s just in the last 100 years.
English is an amalgamation of many different root languages, and has so many borrowed words and phrases, along with nearly every other modern language, can any of them still be said to be “proper”?
When I think of the difference between “proper English” and “improper English” I’m reminded of My Fair Lady. “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain” Eliza vs Henry Higgins (or 'enry 'iggins if you’re feeling improper)
I agree with most of what you said so I’ll focus only on a specific point, OK?
There’s another point of language, besides conveying information, that is relevant here: identity. Different people speak different varieties because this allows them to express “this is who I am, I speak like my peers”.
That’s why AAE speakers use their varieties on first place - it’s a way to tell the world “I’m black, this is who I am, I identify myself with other black people”. And also why those varieties get such a stigma - because in USA, they want people to feel bad for being who they are, if they’re black. (NB: I’m not from USA, but this is so fucking obvious that even an external observer gets it.)
Please don’t be racist. Education level is unconnected to race.
Please don’t call other people racist, unless slander is your thing.
The whole point of that was to hilight how racist people like to call someone “educated” when what they really mean is “wow you sound white”
It was mocking the exact kind of person you seem to believe I am.
Of course there is a proper english. As defined by standard grammatical rules of the English language. A dialect is a variation upon that. I am not saying “black people don’t speak proper English”. There are plenty of black people who speak proper English, the same as there are plenty of white people who speak proper English and plenty of white people who speak dialects. I am saying that any and all dialects are not formal English, by definition of what the grammatical rules of the language are
There is no set of standard grammatical rules for any language. There are current standards for existing dialects, and they change all the time. The strict and steadfast rules of a Londoner’s English are different from those of a Bostonian’s English or Californian’s English. And go back fifty years and those rules in all of those places were different still. Your prescriptivist nonsense is not based on material reality, and you are using it to justify nothing short of your racist prejudices