Re: Grammar

Bob LeChevalier wrote:
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (ivy_mike) wrote:
> >Joni Rathbun <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> >
> >> About the only pronounciation on your list that is uniquely "black"
> >> is acks.
> >
> >There is another one that is almost entirely black that I hear all the
> >time.  Here in Atlanta, we have MANY black, so-called professional
> >TV reporters and news anchors who do it.  They change "d" to "t" in
> >words.  "Had" is "hat"..."hundred" is "hundret"..., etc.
> >
> >I don't know if it's something to do with mouth structure, or just
> >something they do to annoy whites, but it is VERY widespread.
> 
> It has nothing to do with being black, or with mouth structure.  It is
> simply another dialectal pronunciation of English.  Yours is no more
> correct than theirs.
> 
Pedagogically, there are standards. Some people argue that the
'standard' they like is the only way all the time and that, apparently,
dialects should not be used.

I think a "dialect" is sometimes said to become a "language" when it has
a capital and an army and navy. There certainly is no objective way to
decide that Norwegian, Danish and Swedish are different languages while
the various dialects of Chinese are one language. Or that German/Dutch
are two languages while Arabic is only one.