Letter: Threatened by linguistic Stalinism
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Susan Elkin describes her linguistic encounters with a young Liverpudlian who, it seems, could understand her (self-proclaimed) standard English and his own dialect; she could not understand his language.
This is clearly missing a huge point. The reason why he does not speak Susan Elkin's language must be that he chooses not to. Language is more than the sum of noises and words, it represents a high degree of identity. We have seen examples this century where languages such as Hebrew and Afrikaans have grown because they represent an identity their users seek.
In the United States, urban African-Americans appear to be developing a language deliberately incomprehensible because, after so many years of disappointments and false hopes, they no longer want to be understood by middle-class whites. Susan Elkin may feel her Liverpudlian lad's prospects will be transformed by speaking standard English - he does not.
Yours sincerely, RICHARD SLACK London, E17
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments