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Re: Grammar


Poster: mn13189@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU

On Sat, 15 Mar 1997, Stephen Mumford wrote:
> On the one hand, if that is indeed the way it was decided to term Ebonics a
> language, I have to commend the teachers for getting money to further the
> educations of their students in a clever way that skirts a lot of
> beaurocratic red tape.  On the other hand, it is disturbing that what many
> consider "proper english" may being compromised for the greater good.
 
Actually, the idea of "proper english" is a relatively recent innovation,
brought on in the last century with the British Public Schools.  The
dialect spoken in the triangle between Qxford, Cambridge, and London,
became the dialcet to be used if you wanted to sound educated and get a
job.  The notion of a standard didn't really take off, however, until the
advent of radio, and then television, when news broadcasters were expected
to speak with an accent that was deemed by those in charge to be least
offensive to the least number of people.  This has all been since the
early part of this century.
Aye,
Eogan

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