dialects
What I know about dialects is that everyone has one. Dialects differ in different parts of the country. There are even minor differences in dialects in different parts of the same state. Dialects differ depending on cultures. People sometimes make assumptions (stereotype) you because of your dialect. People in the North and South have the most distinct dialects. I imagine that the diversity in dialects within the United States stems from the people who first settled in the areas. People also pick up the speech used by their family. People often use different forms of dialect in different social settings. The most important issue I would like to address in this paper is vernacular dialects in U.S. schools. One central issue dealing with this topic of vernacular dialects in U.S. schools is the idea that all students should be taught a standard dialect. Some people consider such a requirement to be discriminatory, because it places an extra burden on certain students. Others argue that it is a responsibility of the education system to teach a standard dialect to broaden students' skills and opportunities. For instance, students who do not develop facility with standard English may find that their employment or educatio
In addition to Black vernacular, I would also like to address another common dialect in the United States in this paper. The Philadelphia Dialect has been studied intensively by linguist over the years. It is not as popular but much like that of its neighboring state; New York. According to the teachers who experimented with Ebonics it did help their students excel, but according to the Clinton Administration, "black English" is a form of slang that does not belong in the classroom. It was ruled that school districts that recognize the idiom in their teaching cannot do so with federal funds targeted for bilingual education. Black kids in Philadelphia's school system were once classed as "Retarded Educable" and put in special classes because they pronounced "pen" like "pin." This is a feature of black vernacular. The kindly well-intentioned people who put these kids in dumbed-down classes thought they were helping. If you can't distinguish "pin" from "pen," how will you ever get a good job and make real money (Quinn). Americans commonly understand the two types of dialects as northern and southern, and they would certainly recognize Philadelphian as a dialect of the northern type. However, most linguists today recognize a third group, the Midland, which runs between the true northern dialects and the true Southern dialects. Philadelphia is classified by these linguists as a North Midland dialect. Other researchers, notably Craig Carver, recognize only two major divisions of American English: Northern, Southern, and the Pennsylvania dialects as layers of the northern group.
Some common words found in the essay are:
North South, American English, African American, Standard English, World View, Naturally Philadelphian, South Philly, Black English, United English, Retarded Educable, standard english, african american, black english, south philly, standard dialect, vernacular dialect, south philly speech, trial program, vernacular dialects, help students, american society, vernacular dialects schools, pen pin feature, vernacular dialect schools,
Approximate Word count = 2134
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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