kc rouge writes:
I have learned a great deal about language from reading your messages.
I have a better understanding as to why it is so difficult for people,
like my child and husband, who have language processing disorders. I am
from southwest Louisiana, and I am a Cajun. I am bilingual also. I
learned French and English together. Although the French we speak is an
archaic dialect of 17th century French. We have also incorporated
Spanish and Indian words into our language. What makes the Cajun
language a challenge is the fact that different areas may use a
different word for the same thing. I may use one word for towel, but 15
miles south of where I live, in Arnauldville, for example, another word
might be used for towel. Therefore, the French spoken in the prairie
regions is a completely different language than the French spoken in the
river land regions that are farther south and east of here.
I thing that one of the reasons people have a hard time with English, or
any language for that matter, is due to the
cultural diversity of a country. Each country adds or corrupts words
which become part of the lexicon. A text book version of a language is
vastly different from the language that is spoken by the population of a
country. Indeed, when I taught English at the local high school, I had
a hard time understanding the African American students. They spoke a
language that is now called Ebonics. They used the infinitive form of
the verb to be
rather than the proper present progressive form: I be going to the
store instead of I am going to the store.
The English many of them spoke is a completely different language than
standard American English. Actually, I guess it would be considered a
substandard language.
I don't know if this will mean anything, but I just wanted to share my
thoughts with the group.
Karen Rougeau
Most interesting Karen. On the census 2000 form, which category of
ethnic origin did you check? And how many lanugages can you speak?
Would you please name them? And one last question, as an English
teacher, were you required to teach your Black students "standard
English"?