Some Thoughts on Language and Power (2009)
EDU 388 Diversity Delta College
Peregrino’s lecture caused me to reflect on my cultural background. For instance, I found many similarities between Mexican culture and African American culture in regards to birthright, migration and language. I discuss these in detail in my post on nature versus nurture.
One the aspect that I would like to discuss further is the concept of language and power. Peregrino discusses how a stigma is created towards Mexican Americans in regards to the perception and translation of sounds in U.S. English language. One of these sounds are the small i, as in “sit.” He explained that the Spanish language has no small i sound; therefore he first conceived that sound as the double ee sound as in “sheet.”
His example caused me to reflect on the stigma that is created around Black English. Usually, this version of the English language is stigmatized as broken English or a form of slang. On the contrary, the established characteristics in the Black English lexicon are actually separate from slang because these characteristics have linguistic rules.
Due to the stigma, many educators will not accept the use of Black English in the classroom as a tool to helping native speakers translate these characteristics into Standard English. Some elementary schools in California have raised debates over this issue, but so much more work needs to be done.
I think that if we move more towards the acceptance of difference then we could understand differences in how various cultures perceive Standard English to create new directions on how to teach it. Associating a sound like the small i to the double ee as explained by Peregrino is only small example of how one could use a person’s native language to teach Standard English without perpetuating notions of inferiority in the process of learning.
I would like to think that one day the U.S. will be the epicenter of a multitude of accepted dialects of English language where students are aware of the differences between these linguistic characteristics while becoming fluid within these linguistic boundaries.
