#DavidShariatmadari

[thoughts-of-a-social-worker]

Language and Reading – The Privileges We Don’t Think About

On the whole, many internet readers would consider the ability to speak a language and to read text on a page as something that “just is”. It makes sense that we might take these things for granted in a technological age where many folks have near instantaneous access to information at their fingertips – including instructions for how to make the latest Starbucks secret menu item and the ability to play and replay at will the latest viral TikTok dance. But, without the ability to understand language or to read, we would not be able to engage in these activities, nor the many others that allow us to be connected to and participate in our larger world. Language and the ability to read help us to better communicate with one another. But, it is important to remember that – depending on where we live and who we are – we all learn how to “do” language a bit differently. Not everyone will agree with our own self-assessments of proficiency or even mastery of a language, even when we share the same one.

I have lived in Iowa my entire life, and it wasn’t until I met with a group of Wisconsin and New York students that I had any awareness of how different my language was from theirs. Yes, we all spoke American English, but each group spoke its own dialect. We were traveling together as student ambassadors to Japan, and I remember one student from New York asking me to say the word “coffee” again because “It was just so funny.” Don’t even get me started on what happened when I said “ope” for the first time. For those existing outside of the Midwest region of the United States, “ope” is generally thought to be a combination of the words “oh” and “whoops” and is usually said as an exclamation of surprise or as a way to signal that the speaker has made a small mistake or accident. For instance, I may say “ope” if I drop a piece of paper while trying to hand it to someone. Regardless of its quirks, Midwestern American English is still English language, and is recognized as such by other Americans (though some may look down upon the dialect as being a bit “country” and associate it with “uneducated” farm folk – that is a can of worms I may dive into later).

Guardian writer David Shariatmadari wrote about a similar issue in his article “The Limits of Standard English” in January 2020. He spoke on the stigma tied to the dialect of American English spoken by Black individuals and how many people still deemed it as “bad” English, not unlike the word “ope”. Perhaps strangest of all, however, was when Shariatmadari wrote about the paradox of the treatment of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) where most people know what it is – and can recognize and even appreciate it when used in popular culture, such as hip hop music and movies– but at the same time dismiss it as slang that has less value than more accepted dialects of English. The funny thing is, Shariatmadari laid out a compelling argument for why AAVE makes sense, not only as a geographic dialect – due to the historic and continued segregation of Black individuals from white individuals in our country – but also as a “rule-bound and systematic” language. The things that most people take issue with in AAVE, including the use of double-negatives, may not be common in American English but they are common in other respected languages like French and Italian. Why, if we view the latter as romantic and sophisticated languages, can’t we view AAVE the same way? Part of the answer to that question is stigma. When we think about who makes the decisions, past and present, in the U.S. about what is “acceptable” and “normal,” the picture becomes more clear. This leads me to address the issue of learning to read English.

In an article written by Jaime Saavedra about learning poverty, he wrote about reading as a milestone in every child’s life that would set the course for them to be active participants in larger society. Learning to read is the first step to learning about all sorts of other subjects, and it allows us to express ourselves and communicate with others. He stated that all children have the ability to learn to read (though I would argue they may not, depending on where they live in the world and whether or not they have the capacity or resources to do so), but Saavedra also addressed the particular difficulty of learning to read in English due to its complex system of rules. Let’s look at the sound “f”. Saavedra mentions how the letter “f” can signal this sound, but that combinations of letters such as “gh” in the word “cough” or “ph” in the word “phone” make the same sound – even though none of these letters individually make anything close to the “f” sound. What about words like “there,” “their,” and “they’re”? I know very well-educated, native English-speaking adults who still struggle with using these words correctly 100% of the time. It’s no wonder that English is one of the hardest languages in the world to master. And how is mastery of this language decided? You guessed it: by those who have historically decided what is “right” and “wrong” – the same people who decided which way of speaking English was the “correct” one. 

So, if it is those with privilege and power who get to set the standard for what qualifies as “good” English and “bad” English, we have to consider which groups may have been historically favored as speaking English well. Looking at those who have long held positions of power in the United States throughout history, it is easy to see a common theme: white, male, affluent, and older (when taking into account the average life expectancy for each time period). These individuals often had easy access to quality education and generally moved in social circles with people who looked like themselves. That is not to say that those individuals did not accomplish great things, nor is it to say that they weren’t capable of recognizing their privilege – to a degree. But, when we realize that the norms and standards for our language are rooted in power and privilege, it should cause us to pause. We know more now, and we can do better. If a Midwestern “ope” can be accepted as a dialect of English and can be popularized by a internet personality (check out comedian Charlie Berens, if you aren’t familiar with him), if AAVE can be accepted as an edgy part of pop culture, what’s to stop those things from being accepted as normative – as a different way of doing English well? When we view our abilities to read text on a page and to speak a language through a lens of privilege, the world can start to look a lot different – and space for change can be made.

#Language #Reading #Privilege #SocialWork #AAVE #English #SocialJustice #JaimeSaavedra #DavidShariatmadari