Letter to Laura Clark of "Twtr? It's majorly bad!"

Ms. Clark, Although I can sympathise with some of your negative opinions about text speak and the way English is taught in the UK in your article, I feel as though you have completely ignored the positive outcomes text speak has to offer! Is text messaging really that harsh on the English language? As long as children do not learn text speak as their first dialect, the majority should be able to distinguish between educational English and the English used while texting. The focus on the minor issues of abbreviations and grammatical errors seem to be ignoring the innovative development of the English language text speak has to offer. 

Have you ever considered it to be "the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adapt language to suit the demands of diverse settings"? (D. Crystal, 2003). This necessity to "protect standards of English from the influence of text message and social media slang" (Clark, 2014), seems to come from an elitist, Standard English point of view. This developmental medium of the English language allows for quicker communication between individuals or on a wider scale, due to the swiftness technology has enable us to write with. The linguist, David Crystal, ensures that "texters seem to be aware of the high information value of consonants as opposed to vowels (...) as well as the low information value of punctuation marks"(D. Crystal, 2003), illustrating people's ability to distinguish between standard and non-standard English. This ability to communicate using different mediums (or dialects, or languages) has actually proven to be beneficial for developing young minds. 

On the flip side, your article provides a productive argument towards the manner in which the English language is taught and enforced in the UK. It seems as though poor scores on English assessments leads those students to chose other subjects when given the ability to decide at GSCE or A levels. To be honest, this lack of enforcement of the English studies may have a bigger impact on students standard English as opposed to text speak. In an ideal world, individuals should be able to effectively communicate using different mediums and dialects of language, knowing when and how to adhere to the rules of standard English. However, I do not necessarily agree with the correlation between text speak and the way English is taught in the UK. 

Memoir: Beyonce's Communication of Feminist Views

I wanted Flawless to empower all of my girls that listen to my music. I wanted my fans to be inspired to speak out towards Feminism, and to pursue their dreams. My African American background influenced me to specifically reach out to the girls within our community. As a young girl I looked up to other African American artists like Diana Ross, Tina Turner or Whitney Houston, and still to this day admire the freedom in their lyrical choices. I feel as though I've achieved that in the lyrics I've written in Flawless, using a sense of attitude to convey my feminist ideals. "Don't think I'm just his little wife", a verse from the song, addresses an issue which is something most woman have struggled with for a while. Although I don't feel the need for competition between men and women, I want women to strive to be the best they can be. My choice of including  one of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech was particular as it specifically communicated these ideals in an intelligent, successful way. I completely agreed with the ideas expressed in her speech, as it addresses women as a whole, regardless of race, community or culture. This concept of including all women in Feminism, rather than specific races, really touches heart with me, and I have used my AAVE in my lyrics as a mean to communicate my ideals to the best of my abilities. 

Bilingual Mind: Understanding How The Brain Speaks Two Languages: a response

Jeffrey Kluger explores scientific reasoning behind bilingualism, explaining its many benefits and few disadvantages. He focuses on the importance childhood development and education, while providing research proving its advantages later on in life. Kluger states that bilinguals "seemed to show a greater facility with skills that relied on interpreting symbolic representations, such math or music."

Code switching is explored in Kluger text's taking a different stance on its importance to the one discussed in class. Kluger believes "that this is a short-term disadvantage of bilingualism", while I believe it does not interrupt the flow of a conversation, except the interchange of languages, as it keeps the same structure of conversation. In both cases though, bilingualism is seen as an advantage as it opens up doors for more communication through different cultures. 

You Say Up, I Say Yesterday: a response

Joan O'C. Hamilton presents a rather interesting idea on how culture affects language. She explains while one language may not be descriptive, another needs to describe to be able to fully explain the event/action/person/etc. This need to describe may also affect the way different cultures perceive how things happen. A cognitive scientist, Boroditsky, believes "these influences may provide insight to a given culture's conception of time, space, colour or even justice". However, a bilingual individual would perceive the event/action/person "regardless of the conventions of verb forms used".

Hamilton's text connects to our class discussion on Bilingualism and how it relates to identity and culture. However, the opinion that one may "switch" identities while speaking different language is not shared with Hamilton. "Some of the biggest debates in the study of the mind - nature versus nurture". Boroditsky focuses on the idea that culture affects our way of describing things, similarly to concepts we have studied in class. 

Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom: a response

David Batty's approach on how accents within a language can change one's perception of a person allows for an interesting, modern point of view. His message essentially expresses how accents, particularly in England, allow someone to determine another's intelligence. In fact, "dialect and perceived intelligence found that people who said nothing at all were regarded as more intelligent than those with a Brummie accent". This whole assumption relates to the area which the accent originates from and its socioeconomic status. Wealthier individuals usually invest in higher education and those were deemed to have more "intelligent" accents. As university education becomes the norm, this assumption of accents can become distorted as those with a "Brummie accent" may in fact be subject to the same education as those with a Yorkshire accent. 

This article takes a similar approach to Bill Bryson's Good English and Bad, as it differentiates English dialects due to one's level of education. Those who have better opportunities for education are more aware of grammatical rules allowing them to adapt a "better", more proper English. On the flip side, Batty seems to believe that accents and education evolve along with the "proper" ways of speech, while Bryson's take is that "The best forms of speech will, in time, establish themselves". Interestingly, both authors take different stances at the evolution of a proper way of speaking. 

Good English and Bad: A response

Given all the anomalies in the English Language, what is the author suggesting about standards of usage? How does his discussion make you feel about your own lapses in grammar? 

In response to the questions above, Bill Bryson's main argument is the abnormalities of the English language and the ignorance of rules implicated by those of Latin. Although certain rules have kept certain from the Latin language, it is inevitable that variations surface due to the evolution of human behaviour, or technology, etc. Bryson quotes, "The best forms of speech will, in time, establish themselves". In terms of my own lapses in grammar, I feel less guilty due to the underlying reality of the English language: a lack of stultifying authority.

The Mother Tongue

Amy Tan's essay on the issues of non-native English speakers has allowed me to understand the English language from a different perspective than which I would as a native English speaker. Although there are stereotypes within Mother Tongue English dialects and accents, the stereotypes of non-native English speakers seem to usually be introduced with a negative connotation. Particularly in the essay at hand, where Amy's ethnicity affects how native English speakers view her capabilities, as well as the almost immediate assumptions native English speakers create when in conversation with a non-native English speaker. 

Midway through the text Tan explains how she realised how her ethnicity limited her in a native English-speaking culture. "I think my mother's English had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well." The unfortunate and perhaps subconscious stereotype a native English speaker may associate to a non-native English speaker, or in Tan's case, her Asian ethnicity could have evidently affected her career path. Since Asians can be associated with Mathematics, Tan was somewhat forced to follow this social "rule", therefore doing nothing to improve her English speaking skills. This evidently creates a cycle for those in similar situations, continuing the "Broken English". 

Another negative connotation Tan has proved in her essay is the assumptions made by native English speakers to those who speak "Broken English".  Tan's mother had "long realised the limitations of her English" due to her incorrect use of grammar, obvious to native English speakers. This unfortunate reality for non-native English speakers can be due to the socioeconomic or a hierarchy of assumptions made by native English speakers. Perhaps native English speakers deem certain non-native English speakers unfit for their attention, a situation proved by Tan later on during her essay where her mother was unable to receive certain information due to her inability to communicate her message or feelings to the English speaking individual, however as soon as Tan explains her mother's point in less "broken English" she is given the right to the information. Non-natives definitely have to work twice as hard to earn the same respect as a native speaker.

All in all, non-native speakers are made to cross extra steps to be able earn the same respect as a native speaker in most languages, not excluding the English language. And as a result, these different cultures can be made to follow certain stereotypes in an predominantly English-language culture in order to follow the rules of society.