![]() Supporters argue that a common language would bring more unity and assimilation, while opponents maintain that 97 percent of Americans already speak English well-the highest percentage of any nation of its size in history. periodically wrestles with the question of whether English should be the nation's official language. ![]() In one of the musical's most popular songs, Higgins rants, "An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him/The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him/One common language I'm afraid we'll never get."Īs a melting pot for people of many different tongues, the U.S. In the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics professor Henry Higgins transforms a crude Cockney girl into an elegant and eloquent woman. Mainstream speakers become associated with good virtue, while those who talk outside the norm may be stigmatized as uneducated or untrustworthy. Throughout history, people have used language to make distinctions among different classes and cultures. "There have to be limits in place for language, behavior, and everything else." Could violating the proper rules of grammar be the first sign of a larger societal shift, where unrefined and bawdy speech prevails and immoral behavior becomes acceptable? "We can't have a society where everything goes," says Hastings. Hastings says that from a descriptivist's point of view, "If language at its basic level is about communication between people, then its purpose is accomplished."Ī prescriptivist's concerns about slipping standards aren't necessarily about language they may reflect fears about changes in society. Prescriptivists uphold the rules for how a language should be spoken and written, while descriptivists prefer simply to observe the myriad ways that ordinary people use language. When it comes to standards, people fall in two different camps. Standard American English is now the preferred speech of television and film, taught in schools and modeled by newscasters. In the United States, the advent of radio led to the widespread use of the neutral-sounding Midwestern dialect. Every community has a norm devoid of strong accents, slang, and improper grammar. To study "bad language," students must first understand the standards against which it's measured. "Words are never neutral vehicles of thought, but always completely loaded with meaning." "It is my hope that we can discuss these materials with care," Hastings tells his class. Of course, any examination of dirty words runs the risk of offending. We're all intimately familiar with language, yet many people have never really thought about it before." Says UI assistant anthropology professor Adi Hastings, who teaches the popular course, "The class title draws them in, but it also gets them to notice the use of language around them. In addition to bad language in terms of obscenity and taboo, the class also looks at the social ramifications of speaking with certain dialects, grammatical mistakes, and sub-cultural jargon and slang. "Aside from a person's physical appearance," these undergrads read in an essay by linguistics expert Dennis Baron, "the first thing someone will be judged by is how he or she talks." ![]() They learn how words become labeled "good" or "bad" based on society's values and people's perceptions. If words don't hold any intrinsic moral value, then why did Carlin cause such a stir? UI students find out in an anthropology class called "Bad Language" that uses ethnographic and sociolinguistic situations from around the world to explore what words say about a culture. Carlin argued that bad words don't exist-only sinister thoughts and intentions. ![]() In his controversial 1972 monologue, comedian George Carlin revealed these Seven Dirty Words that he warns "will infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war."Īlthough it began as comedy, Carlin's shocking routine sparked a national debate about obscenity that eventually reached the Supreme Court. ![]() Out of some 400,000 words in the English language, seven are so dastardly that they must never be uttered on broadcast television. Anthropology students learn to watch their language. ![]()
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