Lippi-Green: Excerpt 1

In English with an Accent (2^nd ed.), Rosina Lippi-Green puts forward strong critiques of appropriacy arguments, asking readers to think through what it means for speakers to judge nonstandard dialects as inappropriate in particular contexts. I would love to continue our conversation from Wednesday's class about two of the arguments she makes in the chapter about language and education. I've put one in each post so that we can keep the strings of comments separate.

Excerpt 1:

Appropriacy judgments that cloak subjective, culturally bound judgments of ‘correctness’ might be made clearer by the contrast between two statements:

1. It is inappropriate for a law student to ask a question in Hawai’ian Creole English.
2. It is inappropriate for a wife to contradict her husband.

While the second statement was once unremarkable, it would now evoke resounding criticism in most quarters. The first statement might still pass without comment, although the underlying issue, silencing of voices considered unworthy or unequal, is the same. To challenge the first statement in the U.S. educational system is to question the primacy of one language variety over all others. (81)