The Understanding of Language
Jason A. Hill

The study of language was the common thread that sewed the four readings together.  [be that as it may, I need an intro sentence that introduces the idea by definition] Each of the authors had something different to say about language.  Paul Roberts wrote about the English language and specifically the growth of the English language, David Crystal wrote about prescriptivism on languages, Dorothy Seymour wrote on what she called Black speech, and the last of the four articles by Gloria Naylor was about the meaning of words and the meanings you give them.  [don't subordinate your intro to summarizing the points made by each author--give me some background on the issue you've chosen to write about--use the four articles merely as support for that issue]  By examining the four readings I got a feeling that all four authors thought that the understanding of language is important part of life.  [sort of a lame sentence--delete it] Not just to grasp language but to manipulate language and make it our own is the best way we will comprehend language. [awkward syntax--clarify what you mean by that--what exactly do you want to prove in this paper? that my manipulation of the language I transmit will best help me to understand the language I receive from others?]

The English language has always gone through changes since it[s] inception around 400 A.D., [replace the comma with a semicolon] those changes help the growth of the English language.  In the reading by Paul Roberts "A Brief History of English," he started by telling that the English speaking people were ”scattered along the northern coast of Europe,” [lose the comma, put a period after the parentheses] (Roberts 1) [new sentence] these people are called the Anglo-Saxons.  Through trade routes the Anglo-Saxons had contact with the Romans and borrowed different words from Latin such as ”kettle, wine, cheese, butter, bishop, and church.” (Roberts 1)  [in short quote form, the period always goes after the parentheses] The English language did not become evident until about 600 A.D. when the Anglo-Saxons learned the Latin alphabet and began to write.  The English language also borrowed from the Norse people from the Denmark and Scandinavian area, words likes [like, not likes] “angel, candle, priest, martyr, purple, and school,” (Roberts 4) were from that area and are called Old English.  Borrowing from others [other, not others] languages helped English grow into a diverse language.  During the years 1000 and 1200 Middle English came about, the Norman Conquest of France added French words into the English vocabulary such as “parliament, majesty, treaty, alliance, veal, beef, bacon, jelly, blue, scarlet, dance, chess, music, story, romance, poet, study, logic, grammar, noun, nice, second, age, bucket, final, fault, move.” (Roberts 5) [these quotes are short enough to be put in short quote form, so they're fine where they are, but remember to put your period after the parentheses, not before them, in short quote form] “Middle English is easier to understand than Old English because it more like Modern English.” (Roberts 5)  [don't throw two quotes back to back--if you do, you lose the value of the quote--quotes are used only as evidence to help prove a particular point you want to make--for that reason, they always need follow up analysis before you dive into another one--what does it mean that the French added these words to the language? why didn't we stop using the old words altogether?] The English language has been able to grow and expand because of the numbers people that [who, not that] speak the language.  With the United States being a super power and free land the number of people wanted to migrant increases everyday and all those individuals have to the learn the main language of the land.  [develop this idea of necessity--there are plenty of people in the U.S. who are born, grow old and die without ever learning English--what makes this language a necessity in that case?] With those different spins on the English language to is sure to change. With the society always changing the idea of prescriptive tradition in the English language can’t [avoid the use of contractions] exist. “prescriptivism [capitalize]  is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to [be] imposed on the whole of the speech community.” (Crystal 1) [period follows parentheses] Prescriptive and descriptive grammarians differ in their style of teaching.  The prescriptive grammarians have a set way of teaching the use of language and they don’t [lose the contraction] think that it should ever change that it should stay the same as the society changes.  Descriptive grammarians can alter the way they teach the use of language knowing that the use of language changes as the society changes. Trying to keep the same language when the society changes would put a strain on the people in that society.  For example, a teen using 1970’s language in today world’s [today's world] would find it difficult to communicate with a teen using 1990’s language one would have to change, most likely it would be the teen using 1970’s language so they [pronoun/antecedent disagreement--they/teen] could adapt to the society around them[pronoun/antecedent disagreement--them/teen]. [analyze this example in context with the idea it is trying to support--bring closure by telling me the significance of this idea of the evolution of language to the thesis]

Black speech is the English language spoken the way people from the South made the English language their own, using their own dialect.  Dorothy Z. Seymour’s "Black Children, Black Speech" pointed out that inner city black children have a lack of Standard English skills. The reading stated that it might be a lack of training at home, bad training from other children, or that in West Africa they don’t [contraction] have vowel sounds like the English language has.  The one thing she didn’t [contraction] point out is that a majority of Black people in the United States were brought here for slavery purposes from West Africa, but were taught and learned English from southern Whites.  And that is the language that stuck in the Black community when they migrated from the south to the north.  Ms. Seymour also didn’t [contraction] point out that southern Whites also use the language that she described as black speech.  [giving you the benefit of the doubt on these assumptions--so what?  analyze the significance of what she means--analyze your objections to it--your idea should not be so dependent on hers--you should be able to take all four readings, come up with a conclusion, develop a series of ideas to support your conclusion, and then use the materials read to support and advance your conclusion--the basis of your argument should not be merely an attack on hers--make your point] It seemed as if she was saying that all black people in the United States speak in this language that is unknown to me, and that I never have spoken in.  Ms. Seymour also said it was because American Blacks are from West Africa that they can’t [contraction] understand why certain words in the English language come in the order that [they] do, when from day one students of all colors are taught English the same way.  [careful here--you're missing a main point of her article--what children are taught in school and what they speak in the home are two different things--if a black child grows up in a certain neighborhood and hears Ebonics from his neighbors, his parents, and his friends, that will become his social means of expression--how does that idea impact your argument here]  It’s [contraction] up to the student the learn Standard English or use the southern vernacular they [pronoun/antecedent disagreement--they/student] may be speaking at home.  Students of all colors adapt the English language into a language that is easier for them to speak in and communicate with. [sure, now why is this important to your thesis]

The word “nigger” has different meanings by the different people who say it.  [lead into this idea before tossing out the example--how does this idea tie into the point of your essay?] The time and the place you [no second person] use it reflects the meaning you [no second person] give the word.  Gloria Naylor’s story of a classmate calling her a “nigger” and it[s] being the first time she heard the word, but not being the first time she heard the word, is something I believe that most Black people can relate with.  Ms. Naylor’s meaning of the word changed when she heard it in a derogatory way.  She always heard “nigger” as her family was speaking about a certain person they knew.  She became accustom[ed] to hearing the word in her family’s everyday conversation; but when her classmate said it to her the effect the word had was different and gave her a feeling that she didn’t [contraction] like.  I believe this is the same feeling that most Black[s] get when they hear the word “nigger” from a person they know or a person they have never met.  [eh?--what's your basis of proof?] It’s [contraction] a mystery why most Black people can call each other “nigger” and never get upset at one another, but when someone of another race calls them a “nigger” their rage is immeasurable [examine how you think that's a mystery?  does Naylor give you any means by which to prove otherwise? does Seymour?].  Gloria Naylor’s title The Meaning of a Word was the correct title, because it’s the meaning that Blacks put on the word “nigger” as to whether or not they get upset or not. [clarify the distinction you're making here between received language and transmitted language--the language that I speak may not have the same semantics as the language that you hear--what do you make of that?--that should be your focus for the paragraph]

Understanding language is important, because without it we wouldn’t [contraction] be able to communicate with each other.  The English language is one that can be interpreted in many different ways; so many different types of people can use it.  They all make the language their own and all have their own why of saying things in the certain language: all the while making it understandable to the person they are communicating with. [develop this impact a bit--what does all this mean to our society?  what sort of impact does multiple interpretation of meaning have on a multi-cultural world?  finally, why is the thesis important?]

Annotated Bibliography:
The Understanding of Language

Thesis Statement: Not just to grasp language but to manipulate language and make it our own is the best way we will comprehend language.

1. Crystal, David.  “The Prescriptive Tradition.”  Language Awareness. 
               Ed. By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York,
               New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
This article showing [shows, not showing] the change in language as the society changes.

2. Naylor, Gloria.  “The Meaning of a Word.”  Language Awareness. 
                Ed. By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York,
               New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
The article is about the understanding the meaning of words and language.

3. Roberts, Paul.  “A Brief History of English.”  Language Awareness. 
                Ed. By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York,
                New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
This article shows the growth and change of language.

4. Seymour, Dorothy Z.  “Black Children, Black Speech.”  Language Awareness. 
                Ed. By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York,
                New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
This article is about Black dialect and it[s] effect on language.

 

REVISION: B.  This is a pretty good rewrite.  The author really gave some thought to my comments. 

Language is the spoken form of communication between humans.  Depending on the environment and the person we are speaking to we use different ways of getting across what we are trying to say to one another.  In some situations we have to use Standard English and in another situation we have to use slang to get across what we're trying to say.  Each of the authors had something different to say about the English language. Not just to grasp the different ways the English language are spoken, but to manipulate them and make them our own is the best way we will comprehend the language and communicate it with others in a way they will understand us.

The English language has always gone through changes since its inception around 400 A.D.; those changes help the growth of the English language.  In the reading by Paul Roberts A Brief History of English, he started by telling that the English-speaking people were "scattered along the northern coast of Europe". (Roberts 1) [parentheses, Jason, look like this: (), not like "."--the latter are quotation marks] these people are called the Anglo-Saxons.  Through trade routes the Anglo-Saxons had contact with the Romans and borrowed different words from Latin such as "kettle, wine, cheese, butter, bishop, and church". (Roberts 1)   The English language did not become evident until about 600 A.D. when the Anglo-Saxons learned the Latin alphabet and began to write.  The English language also borrowed from the Norse people from the Denmark and Scandinavian area, words like "angel, candle, priest, martyr, purple, and school," (Roberts 4) were from that area and are called Old English.  Borrowing from other languages helped English grow into a diverse language.  During the years 1000 and 1200 Middle English came about, the Norman Conquest of France added French words into the English vocabulary such as "parliament, majesty, treaty, alliance, veal, beef, bacon, jelly, blue, scarlet, dance, chess, music, story, romance, poet, study, logic, grammar, noun, nice, second, age, bucket, final, fault, move". (Roberts 5)  When the French added these words to the English language it probably made it easier and gave a name to things that before then were hard to describe to another person.  "Middle English is easier to understand than Old English because it more like Modern English". (Roberts 5)  The English language has been able to grow and expand because of the numbers people who speak the language.  With the United States being a super power and free land the number of people wanted to migrant increases everyday and all those individuals have to the learn the main language of the land.  Since immigrants have one step against them for being foreign to the U.S. the know if they don't learn English they will not achieve that "American Dream" they heard about in their homeland and they won't be a productive part of the society they just have joined.  With those different spins on the English language to is sure to change.

With the society always changing the idea of prescriptive tradition in the English language shouldn't exist with the society changing the English language is going to change along with it.  "Prescriptivism is the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community". (Crystal 1) Prescriptive and descriptive grammarians differ in their style of teaching.  The prescriptive grammarians have a set way of teaching the use of language and they think that it shouldn't ever change that it should stay the same as the society changes.  Descriptive grammarians can alter the way they teach the use of language knowing that the use of language changes as the society changes. Trying to keep the same language when the society changes would put a strain on the people in that society.  For example, a teen using 1970's language in today's world would find it difficult to communicate with a teen using 1990's language one would have to change; most likely it would be the teen using 1970's language changing the way he or she spoke to adapt to the society that he or she is surrounded by.  A person not changing the way the used the English language would find it difficult communicating with someone in their own age group.  Adapting the way they use the English language to 1990's language would be the solution in communicating with a teen using today's English.

Black speech is the English language spoken the way people from the South made the English language their own, using their own dialect.  Dorothy Z. Seymour's Black Children, Black Speech pointed out that inner city black children have a lack of Standard English skills. The reading stated that it might be a lack of training at home or bad training from other children.  A majority of Black people in the United States were brought here for slavery purposes from West Africa, but were taught and learned English from southern Whites.  And that is the language that stuck in the Black community when they migrated from the south to the north.  Southern Whites also use the language that she described as black speech.  It seemed as if she was saying that all black people in the United States speak in this language that is unknown to me, and that I never have spoken in.  Ms. Seymour also said it was because Black children are surrounded by their parents, friends, and neighbors who may all be using slang instead of Standard English as being a contributing factor to them not understanding why certain words in the English language come in the order that they do, which I can agree with.  It's up to the student the learn Standard English or use the southern vernacular they may be speaking at home.  Students of all colors adapt the English language into a language that is easier for them to speak in and communicate with.  If the students didn't adapt the English language into a form which made it easier for them and others to understand a student might be outcast from the other students; which would be counterproductive and could cause a student not to speak to any of his or her fellow students.

The English language has words that have more then one meaning; some of these words can be said in such a way, which give them their meaning.  Emphasis a person puts on a word can effect the person in a way that could upset the person or make the person feel comfortable.  The word "nigger" has different meanings by the different people who say it.  The time and the place the word "nigger" is used reflect the meaning its word is given.  Gloria Naylor's story of a classmate calling her a "nigger" and its being the first time she heard the word, but not being the first time she heard the word, is something I believe that most Black people can relate with.  Ms. Naylor's meaning of the word changed when she heard it in a derogatory way.  She always heard "nigger" as her family was speaking about a certain person they knew.  She became accustomed to hearing the word in her family's everyday conversation; but when her classmate called her a "nigger" the effect the word had was different and gave her a feeling that she knew the word wasn't supposed to be said to her in that manner.  I believe this is the same feeling that most Blacks get when they hear the word "nigger" from a person they know or a person they have never met.  Most Black people I've encountered in my lifetime have called each other "nigger" haven't gotten upset but the first instance a White person even has the word come out their mouth every Black person around becomes angry and defensive.  It's a mystery why most Black people can call each other "nigger" and never get upset at one another, but when someone of another race calls them a "nigger" their rage is immeasurable.  I'm a Black man I will never understand why we as Black people call each other that negative word. Gloria Naylor's title The Meaning of a Word was the correct title, because it's the meaning that Blacks put on the word "nigger" as to whether or not they get upset or not.

Understanding language is important, because without it we would not be able to communicate with each other.  The English language is one that can be interpreted in many different ways; so many different types of people can use it.  People all make the English language their own and all have their own why of saying things in the certain language: all the while making it understandable to the person they are communicating with.  Society as a whole needs to know if the language they are speaking is not understandable to all the people they are speaking to it will hinder the person being spoken to from furthering their understanding of that aspect of the language.  By in a multi-cultural society it is going to hard to know all the meanings that another group of people put on the words they have given new meanings to.  Opening the lines of communication between the different cultures will help us all understand if other more as people living in a society were communication is the key to getting along in a civil manner.

Annotated Bibliography:
The Understanding of Language

Thesis Statement: Not just to grasp language but to manipulate language and
make it our own is the best way we will comprehend language.

1. Crystal, David.  "The Prescriptive Tradition."  Language Awareness.  Ed.
        By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York, New York: St.
        Martin's Press, 1994.

This article shows the change in language as the society changes.

2. Naylor, Gloria.  "The Meaning of a Word."  Language Awareness.  Ed. By
        Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York, New York: St.
        Martin's Press, 1994.

The article is about the understanding the meaning of words and language.

3. Roberts, Paul.  "A Brief History of English."  Language Awareness.  Ed.
        By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York, New York: St.
        Martin's Press, 1994.

This article shows the growth and change of language.

4. Seymour, Dorothy Z.  "Black Children, Black Speech."  Language Awareness.
        Ed. By Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.  New York, New
        York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

This article is about Black dialect and its effect on language.

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