Thursday, August 23, 2007
Response to Smith Article
In response to the Patricia Smith article that was assigned I will state that I agree that the adaptation of one's vernacular of language to another more formal and "accepted" one is a significant transition. In the article Patricia Smith goes on to explain her mother's trip north to Chicago to improve and change her current "slangy" dialogue to the accepted and proper way to use English language. Her mother even states at one point, "I want to talk right before I die". These I believe, are some strong words and help aid in the rhetoric and the telling of this story. It is quite evident to notice that Smith's mother wants very much to change her way of speaking and does so by the end of the article. The narrator does not seem to be totally comfortable with the change which brings in the question of the necessity to alter one's way of speaking or to somewhat "change" their history of tongue. It is difficult to answer whether this is right or not but, it does eventually fall into the hands of the individual and what they feel is best for them. An interesting article and topic.
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3 comments:
I also saw the lack of comfort that Smith felt about the change of language in her article. It seems that so much of language is today is based on slang, whether you're black or white. The fact that these people felt it necessary to speak "proper" in order to earn respect is almost discouraging when so many caucasion people use their own forms of slang to communicate. Its almost as if there is a double standard.
I understand what you mean by having this as a "hard" decision. Even though in "Professional World" its requred to have perfect communication skills, I think that it's very important to understand both languages because you can learn how to use "Black talk" or "Standard Talk" when you are in that certain area. Discrimination due to these different multi-cultural languages that certain people have is a waste of time and can lead into silly court cases that cost a serious amount of money for both the Plaintiff and the Defendant to maintain the hearing for the case.
I forgot to add too. That by having these limitations due to multicultural languages no one accomplishes what needs to get done which is bad for our society and our business!
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