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