An oddly misguided article in the National Post takes issue with those who prefer correctly spoken and written English. We get a clue right away that the author is perhaps not dealing with our version of reality when he says that Bush is criticized for his poor English because he started a "largely unpopular war." That's right, Bush started it. And in what anglophone circles is it unpopular? These days, with 72% of Canadians saying we should have backed Bush in the beginning, you have to confine your search to the academy to find large populations of English-speakers with whom it isn't popular.
In the wider sense, though, the author misses the point of language. Since it is the primary means by which we communicate, the less clear it becomes and the less precise its meaning, of necessity the less useful and communicative our language becomes. Try transcribing the conversation of a 13 year old to prove this to yourself; robbed of the facial expressions, shoulder shrugs and intonations that make up 90% of its meaning, the string of "uh" "like" and "F***" will be uncomprehensible.
Further, he equates "language snobs" with people whom he doesn't call racists, but obviously considers as such: those who frown on incorrect ghetto slang as "black speech" and prefer "white speech". (The fact that he associates these dialects with these skin colours leans more toward the notion that he is a racist, it would seem.) This is so typical of the jello-headed reasoning of educators and curriculum consultants who no longer believe in teaching grammar, because, a la Chomsky, children will learn the grammar that they need to function in their environment. "Ebonics" hurts nobody as much as it does black people; if they are not taught by their parents and teachers (and all too often they're not) how to speak proper English, they are forever marked to even the most casual observer as uneducated and as members of the underclass, regardless of their personal qualities and talents.
The genius of Western civilization is that you don't need to be a blood descendent of Jerusalem, Athens or Rome to be a rightful heir to their legacy. If we insist that all Canadian and American children learn how to speak English (and preferably another language, too) properly, we will do more to level the playing field and remove inequality than all the quota programmes put together.
Posted by Clio at April 8, 2003 03:48 PM