South African Language And Communication In South Africa
South African English Report
Since the beginning of humanity, communication has been a fundamental aspect for the coexistence of ancient civilizations. Thanks to the frequently and conscious action of exchanging information, it was possible to maintain a healthy and unified environment between people from the same society. Furthermore, due to the necessity of communicating with each other, individuals from different origins developed their own personal type of language. Noam Chomsky, a remarkable linguistic, defines the study of human language as an approach to “what some might call the "human essence," the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man.” From this definition, it can be inferred that every man creates their own language to express the way they perceive the world.
Nowadays, English is the most spoken language, but as it has been said before, exist diverse ways it can be pronounced and expressed. African American English is a perfect example of the variety of English language. Therefore, it can be affirmed that studying this particular topic is essential because it helps to create a strong communication between countries that want to do business in South Africa.
To achieve this, this report will expose the history, the importance and status, the vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar of South African English.
History and regions South African English originally comes from British English. In 1795, British troops arrived at the
The Skin That We Speak Analysis
1395 Words | 6 PagesLanguage is used to convey a message as well as connect people to a particular culture or ethnicity he or she identifies with. People who share the same language share a bond and pass their history through language. In chapter one of The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom Joanne Kilgour Dowdy speak about growing up in Trinidad and her mother insisting on her speaking in the colonizer's language rather than her native Trinidadian language. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy felt as if her identity was being pushed to the side when she was forced to speak “Colonized English” when she was at school or around the social elite of her community, and felt ridiculed from her peers for speaking proper as if she was white or of the elite social class. Dowdy major concern was how to have the freedom to go back and forth from home, language to the public language without feeling judged from both sides of her
Review Of Bill Cosby's Views On African American Vernacular English
325 Words | 2 PagesUnlike Cosby, that believes that AAVE should cease to exist. Cosby prompts his audience to not accept the Vernacular that some black people speak because it will get them nowhere. Whiles, Smitherman defends that there is no intellectual deficiencies in the students that speak AAVE. Cosby says younger African Americans do not want to learn the Standard American English whereas Smitherman believes that they approach school enthusiastically and highly motivated to learn. It is not that they do not want to learn but instead because of the constant tearing down of their vernacular and being placed in Special Educational programs as a result extinguishes the desire of wanting to learn.
If Black English Isn T A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is By James Baldwin
572 Words | 3 PagesLanguage can either separate someone from this larger identity or connect him or her to it. This essay shows that black people in America have been systematically and institutionally marginalized by white society that their creation of separate and distinct language was a necessity, and this essay brings to light the struggles my community ---------- the black community --------- had faced in an effort to break through stereotypes and erroneous assumptions .I personally enjoyed how Baldwin incorporated historical examples into his essay, such as the Irish and the Germans, because it showed me that African Americans were not the only ones who felt marginalized by the way they use
Analysis Of James Baldwin's Essay 'If Black English Isn' T A Language
338 Words | 2 PagesIn James Baldwin’s essay titled “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” Baldwin highlights his major argument by capitalizing the words in the title so that it can stand out to the readers. His main idea is that all languages are equal, and there is an inequality in society where one is judged by the way they speak. Baldwin wanted the readers to understand that all languages do serve a purpose no matter how a person articulates it. Baldwin also wanted to convey that there is racism that is placed upon a black person just because of the way they speak.
The Myth Of The Negro Past Analysis
903 Words | 4 PagesIt was once believed that the languages that the Africans spoke varied drastically from region to region but in reality they were “local variations of a deeper-lying structural similarity” (Herkovits 79). This similarity allowed communicating in the New World to be easier than if the languages were all completely linguistically independent, “whether Negro speech employs English or French or Spanish or Portuguese vocabulary, the identical constructions found over all the New World can only be regarded as a reflection of the underlying similarities in grammar and idiom, which, in turn, are common to the West African Sudanese tongues” (80). Language then became an important part of African American culture, whether it be a “secret” language used to help slaves escape, or to tell stories and folklore to children to encourage and motivate them, or express African proverbs from generation to generation. There has been many times when other races seem not to understand what African Americans are saying because of the slang terms we create that then become popular terms, most recently has been the phrases “on fleek” and “twerking”, to name a few examples. Being proficient in verbal arts was prized in Africa and now a value has been placed on verbal expression in today’s culture through riddles and through preaching and teaching (Williams
Summary Of John Mcwhorter's Black English
406 Words | 2 PagesIn discussing Black English, John McWhorter talks about the theories of the origin of the language. McWhorter talks about how people have made claims that Black English is related and comes from African languages. He also tells how their research on this subject is unreliable and “sketchy.” These people making these claims are outside of linguistics, meaning they practice things such as education and speech pathology. People like Dr. Smith, a teacher at a medical college, suggested that Black English is a mixture of African languages with English, where these African languages have altered English into a new language.
From Outside In Barbara Melix Analysis
311 Words | 2 PagesThe article “From outside, in,” by Barbara Mellix reveals the difficulties among the black ethnicity to differentiate between two diverse but similar languages. One is “black English”, which is comfortable to her while speaking with her family and community and the other is “standard English”, generally used while talking in public with strangers and work. Since childhood Mellix was taught when and where to use either black English or standard English. To illustrate, seeing her aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh, where there was wide range use of both languages, she learned to manage both languages with ease.
Similarities Between Mother Tongue And How To Tame A Wild Tongue
504 Words | 3 PagesThe power of language We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it.
Jaswinder Bolina's Essay: Writing Like A White Guy
212 Words | 1 PagesJaswinder Bolina uses his identification as Other, to describe difficulties within the writing and speaking community related to what is commonly identified as “white” English in his essay, Writing Like a White Guy. Bolina’s audience is people whom identify as “Other” or “non-white”. He emphasizes, “The first perhaps essential step in assimilating into any culture is the successful adoption of the host country’s language. What’s unusual in America is that this is no different for the immigrant than for the native-born nonwhite.”
Summary Of If Black English Isn T A Language
665 Words | 3 PagesThere are so many types of English accents and different ways people talk in the United States. All of those are built into where a person comes from and personality. In If Black English isn’t a Language,Then tell me,What is? , James Baldwin uses ethos, pathos, and logos to argue that the use of black English has nothing to do with language itself but with the role of languages. Ethos in general is described as a characteristic of a group, culture,and people. In If Black English Isn’t a Language article James Baldwin uses ethos to argue that the use of black English has nothing to do with language itself but with the role of languages.
Social Inequality In The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara
775 Words | 4 PagesAlthough this sort of language is not limited to the characteristics of AAE, it situates the African American childhood in their socially disadvantaged environment, where the inhibition level of using taboo vocabulary is at a minimum and the language is, in fact, that which is considered inappropriate in other social
Dialect Awareness
596 Words | 3 PagesThis research study article “Dialect Awareness and Lexical Comprehension of Mainstream American English in African American English-Speaking Children” written and conducted by Jan Edwards, Megan Gross, Jianshen Chen, Maryellen C. MacDonald, David Kaplan, Megan Brown, and Mark S. Seidenberg examines the sociocultural conditions of AAE. The writers hypothesize that children who speak AAE have trouble comprehending words that are not commonly present in the dialect. The purpose of the study is to promote dialectal awareness and dialectal comprehension. The article’s research team is from the University of Wisconsin Madison, which holds one off the nations top Speech Language Pathology programs.
Effect Of Slang On English Language
1237 Words | 5 PagesIn this paper the author will look at the history of slang, how the use of slang has changed through time and look at the effect it has had on the English language. The Origins of Slang The first recordings of the use of slang were by some of the famous playwrights, including William Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, around the 16th Century.
Language In Society: The Relationship Between Language And Society
1268 Words | 6 PagesLanguage is an important part of our life. Language and communication cannot separate. People use the language as a means of communication to express their ideas and feelings. They communicate either with each other using language in every social interaction; communicate with others directly or indirectly in the spoken and written form. Therefore, language is an important thing of communication in social life.
Importance Of Standardization Of English Language
1762 Words | 8 PagesFinally, for mainly historical reasons, certain English dialects or varieties have been viewed more positively than others. Thus, Standard English, because of its association with being the national English language, has been perceived as the most prestigious of English varieties. However, the fact that some dialects and accents are seen to be more prestigious than others is more a reflection of judgements based on social, rather than linguistic, criteria. As society changes, so too do attitudes towards dialect, accent and variational use of English generally.
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