This essay, by Megan Luong, age 17, from Notre Dame Excessive College in San Jose, Calif., is likely one of the High 11 winners of The Studying Community’s tenth Annual Scholar Editorial Contest, for which we acquired 12,592 entries.
We’re publishing the work of all of the winners and runners-up over the following week, and you will discover them right here as they put up.
Expectations of “Good” English Are Elitist and Unrealistic
The aroma of my mom’s home made phở fills the air. I eagerly greet my mother and welcome mealtime in a melodic mix of Vietnamese and English, “Ăn cơm but?” This linguistic mélange looks like house, and in my immigrant-filled neighborhood, it’s simply one of many many distinctive flavors that English adopts. From Chicano to Tagalog English kinds, every storefront and bus cease resonates with symphonic variations in slang, cadences, and intonations.
In broader society, the notion of “excellent” commonplace English is positioned on a pedestal and worshiped as the one acceptable type of English. This elitist expectation hides behind arbitrary grammar and pronunciation guidelines whereas demeaning language that doesn’t conform — upholding white privilege and stifling minority communities from school rooms to courtrooms.
Analysis by an HR consultancy reveals that nonnative accents are perceived as much less competent, much less clever and fewer reliable in skilled settings. My mom, regardless of years of expertise in her job, has been denied equal respect and alternatives solely due to her accent. One time, a superior even blatantly known as her English “uneducated.”
This bias extends to African American English and Chicano English dialects, which even have nuanced and correct tense methods past commonplace English’s three tenses. Double negatives (corresponding to “ain’t received no cash”) and omitted copulas (like “he sensible”) are generally denounced regardless of being grammatical buildings present in languages worldwide.
Conforming to a talking type is usually a fixed battle for these with complicated linguistic backgrounds. Linguistic assimilation alone can’t heal the pervasive drawback of cultural subjugation that has fueled colonization and ethnic cleaning for hundreds of years. Eighty p.c of English is derived from 300-plus different languages, starting from African American English slang to Sanskrit-originating “guru” and “yoga.” The “pure” English idea actively erases cultural contributions and displays the colonizer mentality. It’s time for society to maneuver past these slender preconceptions.
Language is just not static, however a residing entity, evolving with the ebbs and flows of humanity. Linguist John McWhorter notes in The New York Instances, “There are issues that strike individuals as errors, the place a linguist simply sees the language transferring alongside.” Linguists extensively agree that prescriptive grammar guidelines don’t outline linguistic competence; one’s capacity to successfully convey which means does. And whereas writing errors and slips of the tongue happen, if a linguistic neighborhood understands the message, it serves its goal as language.
In our more and more interconnected world, variety is extra vital than ever. Labeling somebody’s English “imperfect” is elitist and unrealistic, undermining the worth of linguistic variety. Earlier than judging others primarily based on their English, or any language, pause and mirror: Is it unacceptable or simply unfamiliar? Acknowledging systemic bias and embracing language’s pure variety is step one to an inclusive society the place everybody’s voice is valued, no matter the way it differs from our personal.
Works Cited
“A Transient Historical past of AAVE.” The Garfield Messenger, 26 Feb. 2014.
Bradley, Rachel. “Which Phrases Did English Take From Different Languages?” Dictionary.com, 1 Oct. 2018.
Kamm, Oliver. “There Is No ‘Correct English.’” The Wall Road Journal, 13 March 2015
McWhorter, John. “Some Hear Grammar Don’ts. I Hear the Way forward for English.” The New York Instances, 2 Nov. 2021.
Pinker, Steven. The Language Intuition. Harper Perennial Fashionable Classics, 2000.
Ro, Christine. “The Pervasive Drawback of ‘Linguistic Racism.’” BBC, 3 June 2021.
“Yale Grammatical Range Challenge: English in North America.” Yale.edu, 2023.
