Making Sense of "Bad English"

MAKING SENSE OF “BAD ENGLISH” Why is it that some ways of using English are considered “good” and others are considered “bad”? Why are certain forms of language termed elegant, eloquent, or refined, whereas others are deemed uneducated, coarse, or inappropriate? Making Sense of “Bad English” is an accessible introduction to attitudes and ideologies towards the use of English in different settings around the world. Outlining how perceptions about what constitutes “good” and “bad” English have been shaped, this book shows how these principles are based on social factors rather than linguistic issues and highlights some of the real-life consequences of these perceptions. Features include: • an overview of attitudes towards English and how they came about, as well as real-life consequences and benefits of using “bad” English; • explicit links between different English language systems, including child’s English, English as a lingua franca, African American English, Singlish, and New Delhi English; • examples taken from classic names in the field of sociolinguistics, including Labov, Trudgill, Baugh, and Lambert, as well as rising stars and more recent cutting-edge research; • links to relevant social parallels, including cultural outputs such as holiday myths, to help readers engage in a new way with the notion of Standard English; • supporting online material for students which features worksheets, links to audio and news files, further examples and discussion questions, and background on key issues from the book. Making Sense of “Bad English” provides an engaging and thought-provoking overview of this topic and is essential reading for any student studying sociolinguistics within a global setting. Elizabeth Peterson is an Associate Professor at the University of Helsinki, Finland. MAKING SENSE OF “BAD ENGLISH” An Introduction to Language Attitudes and Ideologies Elizabeth Peterson First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Elizabeth Peterson The right of Elizabeth Peterson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Peterson, Elizabeth (Professor of linguistics) author. Title: Making sense of ‘bad English’: an introduction to language attitudes and ideologies/Elizabeth Peterson. Description: London: New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019025824 (print) | LCCN 2019025825 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138237469 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138237476 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429328343 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: English language–Social aspects. | English language–Usage. | English language–Variation. | English language–Errors of usage. Classification: LCC PE1074.75.P48 2019 (print) | LCC PE1074.75 (ebook) | DDC 427–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025824 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025825 ISBN: 978-1-138-23746-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-23747-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-32834-3 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Visit the eResources: www.routledge.com/9781138237476 To my students and educators who are often one and the same CONTENTS List of illustrations xii Acknowledgments xiii Rationale for this book xv Terminology used in this book xix Introduction to Part 1: Making sense of “Bad English” 1 1 English speakers in outer-circle and expanding-circle settings 3 1.1 The English language sandwich 3 1.2 Comparing attitudes about English 7 1.3 “Bad English” in the outer circle 11 1.4 “Bad English” in the expanding circle 13 1.5 Conclusion to Chapter 1 14 Acknowledgments 15 Discussion questions for Chapter 1 15 Notes 15 Cited in this chapter 16 2 Where does “Good English” come from, and what does it have to do with Santa Claus? 17 2.1 Standardizing English 18 2.2 Where does the notion of Standard English come from? 19 2.3 Here comes Santa Claus 23 2.4 Folklore, fact and tradition: “Good English” 25 2.5 Conclusion to Chapter 2 25 Acknowledgments 26 viii Contents Discussion questions for Chapter 2 26 Suggested reading 27 Cited in this chapter 27 3 “Bad English” in inner-circle settings 28 3.1 Youth, young women, foreign influence 28 3.1.1 The role of young women 29 3.1.2 Foreign influence 30 3.1.3 Social class 30 3.2 Talk like us, think like us 30 3.3 The top-down approach to language 33 3.4 What’s “bad” is relative: US vs UK 34 3.5 When “bad” really means “foreign” 39 3.6 What does “Bad English” mean? 39 3.7 Conclusion to Chapter 3 40 Discussion questions for Chapter 3 40 Acknowledgments 41 Note 41 Suggested reading 41 Cited in this chapter 42 4 How “Bad English” works against us: Linguistic discrimination in the USA 44 4.1 Introduction 44 4.1.1 What can you take for granted? 45 4.2 What’s with the attitude? 46 4.2.1 Is it race, or is it language? Or is it race and language? 47 4.3 Access to education 50 4.3.1 Ann Arbor Decision 51 4.4 The (in)justice system 53 4.4.1 The hallowed halls of justice 53 4.4.2 Wrap-up of the justice system 57 4.5 The workplace 57 4.6 Conclusion to Chapter 4 59 Acknowledgments 59 Discussion questions for Chapter 4 59 Note 60 Suggested reading 60 Further references on Chicano English 60 Cited in this chapter 61 5 Why does “Bad English” still exist? 62 5.1 Introduction 62 Contents ix 5.2 Access and isolation 64 5.2.1 Historical ties 65 5.2.2 Social segregation 66 5.2.3 Geographical segregation 69 5.2.4 Reason 1: Why do people speak “bad” varieties? Access to standard language culture 70 5.3 Covert prestige 71 5.3.1 Reason 2: Why do people speak “Bad English”? Covert prestige 73 5.4 Identity and language 74 5.4.1 Reason 3: Why do people speak “Bad English”? Identity 76 5.5 Conclusion to Chapter 5 77 Acknowledgments 77 Discussion questions for Chapter 5 77 Recommended reading 78 Cited in this chapter 79 Introduction to Part 2 81 6 Acquisition of English as a mother tongue 85 6.1 The study of first language acquisition 86 6.1.1 How do children learn their first language? 87 6.1.2 The Critical Age Hypothesis 88 6.2 Stages of acquisition 89 6.2.1 Stage one: Babbling 89 6.2.2 Stage two: One-word stage 90 6.2.3 Stage three: Two-word stage 91 6.2.4 Stage four: More than two words 91 6.3 Acquisition of linguistic features 92 6.3.1 Acquisition of phonetics/phonology 92 6.3.2 Acquisition of morphology 93 6.3.3 Acquisition of syntax 94 6.3.4 Acquisition of vocabulary 95 6.3.5 Acquisition of pragmatics 95 6.4 Conclusion to Chapter 6 96 Discussion questions for Chapter 6 97 Cited in this chapter 97 7 African American English 99 7.1 The historical context of African American English 100 7.2 Distinct discourse styles of African American English 103 7.2.1 Discourse and communication 103 x Contents 7.3 Distinct grammatical features of African American English 105 7.3.1 Verb forms in African American English 106 7.3.2 Morphosyntactic features of African American English 108 7.3.3 Phonological features of AAE 111 7.4 Conclusion to Chapter 7 113 Acknowledgments 114 Discussion questions for Chapter 7 114 Recommended reading 115 Cited in this chapter 115 8 Competing explanations for linguistic features in the outer circle 117 8.1 Introduction 117 8.2 Singapore English 118 8.3 Indian English 120 8.3.1 Delhi English 123 8.4 Conclusion to Chapter 8 127 Acknowledgments 128 Discussion questions for Chapter 8 128 Cited in this chapter 129 9 English as a lingua franca 130 9.1 Introduction 130 9.2 The groundwork: Deficit versus empowerment 131 9.3 The “empirical and contrived core” 134 9.3.1 The consonant inventory 134 9.3.2 Additional phonetic requirements 135 9.3.3 Vowel sounds 136 9.4 Subsequent observations of ELF: Grammar and morphology 139 9.4.1 Lexicogrammar 139 9.5 Conclusion to Chapter 9 141 Acknowledgments 141 Discussion questions for Chapter 9 141 Further reading and information 143 General reading on English as a lingua franca 143 Cited in this chapter 143 Contents xi Summary of Part 2 145 10 Conclusions 151 10.1 Aims and goals, revisited 151 10.2 What is the take-home message? 152 10.3 Has the take-home message been taken home? 153 Cited in this chapter 154 Bibliography 155 Index 161 ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 0.1 Three Circles Model of English. xxii 1.1 Everyone should speak Standard English at all times. 8 1.2 Compared to Standard English, dialects are a simpler form of language. 9 1.3 Generally, young people do not speak as well as the older generation. 9 1.4 I hate it when people say ‘like’ all the time. 10 1.5 Most Americans speak bad English.

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