NCTE 2003 Notes-Opening General Session

Teaching Wonders

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Opening General Session-Robert MacNeil
(*journalist…introduced with a six degrees of separation theme…MacNeil ran into the Texas Book Depository and asked Lee Harvey Oswald where he could find a phone so he could call CBS with the news)

WordStruck-memoir All about language and being “struck” by the power of language and play with language.

“America is where the language is going forward.” American English driving the language globally.

America has five times the number of English speakers than Britain. American English reflects American power—cultural and economic. New York City is the global capital of English.

American English contributes 100,000 entries to the Oxford English Dictionary each year. OED had to open an office in New York.

American English displays new levels of informality—quote from Prince Charles about how American English creates words that “ought not be.” (I couldn't find the exact link for this speach...I seem to recall something being said about it happening in 1996...or maybe 1986. Sorry can't be of more help there)

PBS produced a series entitled The Story of English nine years ago. Chronicling the development of the English language. Now creating Do You Speak American (to be shown on PBS in the spring—curriculum support will be available via websites and enhanced DVD. Will be kept current for three years.)

Outlines the impact of Spanish, African American English Vernacular, and technology on how English is spoken in the United States. What is “standard” American English?

Our spoken language is influencing our written language. The informality of communications like email and IM conversations is creeping into more formalized writing situations. How to combat it? Do we want to combat it? Should we combat it?

Dialects-linguistics-social linguistics. Social linguistics became a “respected” academic discipline in the 1960s. Findings of social linguists are often hard to understand—not accessible. Series attempts to explain what’s happening with language.

America is not becoming homogenized in terms of language and dialects…we’re not all beginning to speak the “mid-western” dialect popularized when network news had pronunciation guides. Americans growing further apart linguistically. Some American dialects are remarkably strong while others (Gullah) are disappearing. (In the case of Gullah, virtually no “native” speakers left—those who speak Gullah are those who are speaking it in order to preserve it, not because they have been taught it since childhood)

Example of Pittsburgh dialect. Dialect becoming a way to speak about place? A way of identifying and a symbol of pride.

Great Lakes Vowel Shift. First shift of vowels in hundreds (?) of years. “Northern Cities Vowel Shift” is happening in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, etc. Examples: boss for bus, black for block.

Southern dialect-Often derided, ridiculed. Two main Southern dialects. Southern plantation dialect with the missing “r” is disappearing. It is being replaced by Inland Southern dialect, which comes from Appalachia. In ISD, the “r” is pronounced. More Americans speak ISD than any other dialect.

No real “standard” American dialect or even “standard” American English—great amounts of latitude.

Are we more tolerant of differences?

Prescriptive versus Descriptive grammars. Prescriptive is about rules and structures. Descriptive is about describing how the language is used. For most linguists, it’s a mix of both.

African American Vernacular English. (Explained in The Story of English) Creole language originating in the pidgins of the slave trade. (language groups were mixed to prevent uprisings…slave pidgins still spoken in Africa) AAVE is not confused or muddled. Has a regular syntax and grammar.

Great Migration? (can’t remember what was said about this)

Linguists found a community in TX—Springville. Language there is little changed. Older members of the Springville community speak “white’. Language not inherently different. Urban African American speech divergent from white English. What are the implications? Separate languages=separate peoples?

AAVE represents a “significant linguistic barrier”. LA School District doing an experiment with fifth graders (third graders?). Teaching the differences between the two—teaching the students to “code switch”. Students are being successful.

Denigration of AAVE has been accepted in ways that other assumptions about race have not been. Language as a shield for ignorance and racism. “Language is the last frontier to be crossed in erasing the legacy of slavery.”

Mainstream culture has a fascination with African American language—see the rise of hip-hop culture.

What is the threat from Spanish? Studies are showing that Latino emigrants move into English acquisition at the same rate as other generations. Second generation Latinos cannot speak Spanish. They speak Chicano—which is a dialect of English. No real threat from the increasing number of Spanish speakers?

Other tid-bits:

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Last Updated April 11, 2011

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