Sherrie got me thinking today... Specifically when we were talking about rules in language. Who sets the rules and what authority do they have to do so? More importantly why should apply and obey these rules? I play traditional music and the musicians I play with often talk about how this or that song changed. The traditional, the music, is alive and changing. Langauge and the inherent rules are no different.
I'm reminded of a book I once read concerning Appalachian culture. Specifically it dealt with language. I remember it talked about how words used in the mountain dialect are Elizabethan in nature and are found in Shakespeare and in the King James translation of the Bible. They've been so long forgetten that society at large disregards the standards and assumes the speaker is ignorant.
Will there someday come a time when one person could write "2days lesson was gr8" and another person could write "today's lesson was great" and the later would be viewed in the same light as "I reckon I'm a-fixing to fill in that hooved out place"?
I recently encountered a study that pointed out that students who use "texting lingo" are actually more proficient readers and writers than those students who do not. The reasons the article gave included anything from socioeconomic status (kids who can afford cell phones have parents who put more of an emphasis on education) to students who can redirect their linguistic patterns into a "code" have to have a stronger understanding of the actual content in order to translate it so quickly and effectively.
ReplyDeleteI recken we'll be a-writin' and a-talkin' s'more 'bout this t'morrow.
ReplyDeleteOur language moves with our verbal expression. With more people around the world able to talk with others in a split second by use of computer (tech items), new words and phrases enter our tiny world and evolve in mere days. So, with the lucrative business of word formation we have more ways to express ourselves (or save time in typing), and following this is the destruction of the sentence (or is it the new structure?). I like the idea...but do I like it for my students?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the day will come when we will accept all levels of written or spoken expression and consider them of equal value. Whether it does or doesn't, we must provide our students with a good foundation and exposure to the given structure/standards and the ability to adjust their communication to fit the audience. Their ability to navigate among the different levels and move in and out of them appropriately is essential to success.
ReplyDeleteTalk on Indolence
ReplyDelete