« "Some Basic Sociolinguistic Concepts" Chapter 5 | Main | In Response to Zaya's Question »
December 01, 2005
"No Kinda Sense" Chapter 3
Comments:
C1) Lisa Delpit writes “the second, if it was that easy for my child to “pick up” at school a new language clearly not her home language, then what was preventing the millions of African American children whose home language was different from the school’s form acquiring the dialect of Standard English?” This aspect of language is something to ponder. How can a child pick up a language so fast in one area, but many children can not learn proper English in the same amount of time? Delpit sees the change in her child because of her want and need to fit into a society. She feels comfortable with her friends and therefore is more likely to use their language.
C2) It is also interesting how Deplit comments on the Oakland Controversy. She writes, “behind the humor and the outrage was that some group of black folks had dared to air our dirty little secret—that a lot of us didn’t know how to “talk right,” and some didn’t much care what other folk thought about it” (37). In many ways, they still have pride in their language and usually use it frequently. Ebonics is still part of their culture and heritage. It must have been difficult seeing disturbing news about a language that is particular to your background. The truth of the matter is that the language is still common, even though it was being highly criticized (and still is highly criticized).
C3) “It doesn’t matter what other people think about you, you have to be who you are. It’s their problem if they can’t appreciate how wonderful you are” (38). This quote just seemed to jump out at me. The girl, Maya, was reiterating the same words her mother had told her, and yet her mother was telling her to stray away from this concept. I wonder, many times parents have to instill certain values into their children, but the world does not appreciate these values, and some of these values are unattainable for such a fickle world. Sometimes, I myself feel as though I have to step back for a second and analyze the situations that I am in. I try to make decisions based not on popular belief, but from my own belief.
C4) Aileen Moffitt, one of the white teachers at Oakland said that he actually obtained a rich appreciation for the culture and background of African-Americans who spoke Ebonics. He began to realize that the features of grammar, syntax, phonology, phonetics, morphology, and semantic were particularly intriguing. His response to the Oakland Controversy was a positive one. He was able to learn about another culture when all the news was portraying was negativity.
C5) “There is a reason our language is called our mother tongue. To speak out against the language that children bring to school means that we are speaking out against their mothers, that their mothers are not good enough to be a part of the school world. And in the African American community, talking about someone’s mother is the worst for of insult!” (47). I completely respect this quote. It embodies everything about language in general. We have learned a language since birth that is unique to our family, our background, our life. To ridicule a person because of his or her speech is one of the greatest insults possible. Again, just because a language is different, does not mean that it is less valued or less important for someone else.
Questions:
Q1) How did Delpit change her mind so quickly about language differences and accepting them? She indicates at the beginning of the chapter that she came from disciplining her child not to speak in Ebonics to speaking to others about embracing their language differences.
Q2) Why were linguists never involved in the Oakland Controversy even though they seem like they could make the biggest contributions?
Q3) I just want to clarify here. Delpit is suggesting that one can learn a language or a dialect easier if he or she is not forced into learning it?
Q4) When Delpit explains about students feeling alienated from school because of their background, is she just talking about her own heritage or in general? Is there a certain race that she is pointing to, a race that feels especially secluded?
Q5) Why did Delpit feel so awful about her daughter speaking Ebonics? Was it just because she thought that her daughter would be looked down upon?
-Christina
Posted by lcisgancarz at December 1, 2005 10:42 PM