What does “Non Standard English” mean?

1. What does “Non Standard English” mean? According to Wolfram Et Schilling-Estes, Vernacular or nonstandard varieties are those ”varieties of a language that are not classified as standard dialects’ ” (305).

2. What is standard English? • According to Wolfram Et Schilling-Estes, “the standard is the language variety ‘associated with middle-class, educated, native speakers of the region’ ” (305).

3. What is a dialect? • According to Wolfram Et Schiling-Estes, “A dialect is a ‘variety of the language associated with a particular regional or social group, everyone speaks a dialect” (305). • Dialects vary in structure (sound, vocabulary, grammar, and social conventions for structuring conversations) on the basis of the speakers’ “age, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnic group membership, and geographic region” (305).

4. What is AAVE? • It’s an acronym for African American Vernacular English. • Vernacular or nonstandard varieties are those “varieties of a language that are not classified as standard dialects” (305). • They contain socially stigmatized features such as the so called English double negative “I ain’t got none” or irregular verb forms “I seen it” (305).

5. What is Code-Switching? • To codeswitch is to choose the pattern of language appriate to the context chosen by any given-individual to fit the appropriate time, place, audience, and communicative purpose,” i.e. way one speaks at home, office, hospital, marketplace.

6. Linguistics News • From the N.F.H.A (Nation Fair Housing Alliance) Press Release: • N.F.H.A. conducted tests over the telephone to determine what both African American and White home seekers were told about unit availability, rent, discounts and other terms and conditions of apartment leasing (293).

7. In 66 percent of these tests – 43 of 65 instances- White callers were favored over African-American callers. • African-American callers did not provide ethnic or racial information during phone calls. • The N.F.H.A. tests show a correlation between the dialect of African-Americans and discrimination on the part of the real estate industry.

8. AAVE Facts • AAVE is a dialect that is spoken by African-American across the US • A.A.V.E follows a highly structured grammar system. • It not lazy English, according to Linguist John Rickford. • Speakers of AAVE often codeswitch and are considered bilingual.

9. In the classroom • An important quote for all teachers to remember: • “It can be very damaging human experience for an AAVE-speaking child to learn mainstream American English while the teacher dismisses AAVE as broken or error-filled” (Wolfram, 1999, p.78). “Codeswitching: Tools of Language and culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom” Swords, Rachel.

10. What can be done? • Help students move between the two language systems by teaching students to codeswitch. In this way, you are empowering your students and showing them how to use the tools they already possess. • As an educator, holding up Standard English as the right language and AAVE as the “inferior” or “wrong” can negatively impact students. • Teaching AAVE students the grammar, structure, and history of AAVE can evoke pride in their language, which can cause increase in school performance.