Advanced Essay #2 Politics

Speech in society is judged by the populace. The type of speech that is acceptable depends on the culture of the country or area. For example what is acceptable speech at home would not be considered acceptable speech in the working world. In today's American culture the extent to which a person can effectively speak English contributes heavily to whether they lead a successful life. There is also a definite correlation between economic status and the way someone speaks, when a person who is of low economic status has a habit of speaking in a way that is improper it leads to them not being able to succeed in the future. Specific victims of speech harming a person's chances are immigrants, and inner city African Americans.According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics the African American unemployment rate is 3% higher than the national average I blame this on our “African American vernacular” and how its not acceptable in America's Culture

In one story I read, it talked about the black vernacular or the language that African Americans use to talk to each other. He justifies their use of the English language, while I think this is a good thing it limits African Americans. If society only accepts one way to speak it's necessary for economic survival to conform to that.

It was first grade and I was sitting in my least favorite class, speech therapy. Around me were two of my friends, which wasn’t a coincidence, and the teacher of my first grade class

“One, Two, Three,” I said over and over again

The worst part about speech therapy is that they never tell you what you’re saying or doing wrong, they just tell you to repeat the words you mess up until you get it right. While in the class I was constantly wondering why I was there, I myself couldn’t find anything wrong with my speech. Looking back now I realize that I picked up a lot of language while talking to my friends and hearing my Dad speak to me, my Dad didn’t have a specific incorrect way of speaking but he always switched from the way he talked at work and around co-workers compared to when he was home.

“No, you have to pronounce the R correctly,” my teacher said

I finally knew something I was doing wrong from the perspective of my teacher. But from my eyes I was speaking the right way, I was speaking the way my dad spoke when he spoke at home. But I now know that in society the way I knew was right wasn't.

In Mother Tongue Tan provides insight into how her mothers language affected her life “I think my mother's English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities,”(Tan, 3). While I do not think the way my parents speak will affect my future in life, I know it will and does for other people and their parents. African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and anybody else who has an origin that is not from an English speaking country can fall victim to people associating speech with intelligence. Speech in America is a way to put down those already at a disadvantage, James Baldwin said perfectly that “Language is also a political instrument,” (Baldwin, 1). Employers choose not to hire people who don't talk within the cultural standard. Some employers choose not to hire these people without thinking of the reason they talk with their altered English. While there are many reasons people and cultures have a specific way of speaking, an example I can think of in America is slavery. During and after slavery African Americans were not allowed to be taught English at all, it was to prevent them from escaping their imprisonment and backstabbing their slave owners. After slavery, African Americans were segregated into poorer schools, this lasted until 1964 which was only about 50 years ago. In today's culture the effect of slavery can still be seen. African Americans have a higher than average poverty and unemployment rate and one of the causes for this is the fact that they were never accepted into the culture of America, instead they chose to make their own.

Something said by Baldwin many years ago still holds true“If you are not a participant in the culture of power being told the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier.” (Baldwin, 1) There are exceptions to what I’ve said above and that pertains to people who have forgotten their culture or choose to hide when in sight of those who do not accept it. My Dad is an example of this, like everybody does, he code switches between using the language his culture taught him and using the language cultural capital taught him this allowed him to see success in America. But is the fact that he had to code switch to succeed in America really a bad thing?

Baldwin, James. "If Black English Isn't A Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?." Nytimes.com. N. p., 1979. Web.  July. 1979.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html

Tran, Amy, “Mother Tongue.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Cvq7ioloJpZGNkYTM0ZjUtNDczZC00NWE2LWEyMTQtMjgzZDRhYTAzNTBi/view

“Bureau of Labor Statistics Data.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000006.