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Friday, July 29, 2005

Is there a "correct" way to speak slang?

Hey, I have to ask you all if my instinctive reaction on this is wrong.

I found a blog where a group of linguists (many of them professionals whose names I know! :-D ) discuss various linguistics issues in terms of day-to-day life.

Anyway, this was about whether linguists were making a dent in people's perspectives on slang and dialects; more specifically, about whether the general populace thinks that there is a "correct" way to speak Ebonics.

And I quote:

Yesterday, The New York Times had a story about a young black woman from tough streets in Jersey City who is coaching an actress on playing her in a movie. She mentioned teaching the actress how to "speak Ebonics the correct way."

To be sure, the example the girl gives is a matter of having the freshest slang. But then few people besides linguists have much but a vague sense of what grammar is, and then, the typical white youngster would be unlikely to refer to their in-group slang as a matter of "correct" versus "wrong." In this girl's comment, we might hear an easy linguistic confidence that is exactly what "Ebonics" advocates see as lacking in speakers of the dialect.

As much as I would love to think that linguists have gotten the idea out that dialects like Ebonics are as fully grammatical as traditional dialects (like "standard" English), I'm not so sure that this says any such thing. Do you all think it's true, as he says above (and I added emphasis) that we wouldn't say there was a correct way to use our 'in-group slang'? I think, for example, of the Northern California slang (like "hella") and the types of things that Clueless made popular (using "like" and "all"). I could swear that I have said in the past that there was a right and a wrong way to use "like" as a pause in a sentence... what do you all think?

Sorry for the almost intellectual interlude. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. (But not before it's your chocolatey goodness! :-D )

Posted by Christa at 2:50 PM.