Social
languages and their different practices I get all too well; working with the public
for so many years, I recognized the different ways I spoke to different
people from my early days in retail. Very quickly, I was made aware of the need
to speak—to connect—with my present audience, in their “lingo” especially if
they were complaining, venting, or simply irate over something that happened as
they shopped. When I found myself transferred to the downtown Jersey City store
I am presently working in, my vernacular adapted to my new area, just as it had
in my previous stores.
When
I was working in a highly Hispanic area, certain phrases, mannerisms, and types of body
language were the precedent; one is usually unaware they acquire these, but it
is simply a matter of association and immersion. In order to communicate with
shoppers and co-workers, one needs to speak the same language. In the downtown store, we have many African-Americans,
both on staff and as customers, so my mannerisms, body language, and speech have
adapted again through these associations and friendships.
Since
9/11, the area has been flooded with an upper-class, business clientele because
of many WTC companies relocating “walking distance” from our store, along the
waterfront. These customers expect a different type of speech and treatment; such
differentiation is not difficult, and my more formal speech can be heard when
dealing with these shoppers. None of these habits are intentional, but a
natural context of speaking to the many different people in our daily routine,
on their terms. These are my peeps, below. Note we are many different types, and so are our speech patterns.
The
example of “Jane” as she describes the story from class to both her parents and
boyfriend, hoping to prove there is no change in her speech patterns, is
classic. She quickly recognizes the vast differences in her social languages
just as I have described the variations of my own. When I was younger, like Jane,
I did not see all the adaptations of language I used but was aware of the
obvious ones--talking “nicer” to parents, teachers, and clergy but being ourselves with friends. Jane’s claim that
she did not ever speak differently was destined to fail when tested, and did.
The
ability to read and grasp the essence of the author’s intent has a lot to do
with a ready knowledge of what is going on around us. If a person is completely
uninformed and reads an aspirin bottle, such as Gee’s example, they might be
puzzled or misinterpret the warnings it carries. However, unless you live under
a rock, on a deserted island, or in a remote cloister, you would be somewhat familiar
with such information and able to discern, by the time you were an adult making
this purchase, what the message intended its reader to ascertain.
Understandably, in today’s ever-changing society, there may be many who use
English as their second language, missing certain social cues. But because of
social media, they would have an easier time adapting to mannerisms and speech
patterns of average American conversations.
On
the topic of social responsibility I can only say that if cigarette
manufacturers should be held accountable, then what about liquor and prescription
drug manufacturers, which are also highly addictive. I do not disagree BUT
these are all very serious social issues and as long as they are readily
available, there will be a higher incident rate which negatively affect
families, and loved ones by ruining lives. Accountability needs to be addressed
across many forums, deciding where freedom of choice ends and responsibility to
each other begins.
Ebonics—why
not? If children can take ESL classes to learn English, and others can learn a second language,
such as Spanish, in school to accommodate the many Hispanic families living in
the USA, why not Ebonics. If many
children are more familiar with this vernacular, as long as they will also
learn how to write and communicate in English, it seems as acceptable as the
decision to include Spanish as a second, required language in schools. The
factor of time and scheduling would, of course, be an issue, but if this would
prove advantageous to students, particularly in certain areas, why not try and
implement this form of expression? Yet, I wonder what will come of these changes and the absence of grammar at the same time…
No comments:
Post a Comment