Re: Ron Garret considered harmful

On 2009-11-08 21:45:58 -0500, Vassil Nikolov <vnikolov@xxxxxxxxx> said:

For example, when some
within that group speak in one way and the rest speak in another,
what is the criterion determining which is standard or "correct"?

Whoever controls the academy will determine what the next generation considers "correct."

I'm not suggesting that grammatical rules are anything other than one linguistic community imposting its norms on another. But being aware of that such a choice exists gives one the option of speaking in the standard dialect or not.

Uneducated people don't have that option. As a result, they will spend their whole lives unconsciously labeling themselves as uneducated. It's very politically correct to say that all dialects are equal, but the reality is that speaking some dialects immediately marks the speaker as uneducated.

Show up for a job interview with an interviewer who has some minimal education in grammar and reply to an offer of a glass of water with "no thanks, I just drunk some coke with lunch," and one's chances of getting the job immediately fall below those of another applicant who answers "no thanks, I just drank some coke with lunch." Often people make such judgements unconsciously - they just "know" that someone "sounds stupid." Knowing and being able to use the standard dialect has real world consequences.


--
Raffael Cavallaro

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