Standard English 'And Real Stories' By David Crystal
Crystal, D. (2004). The Stories of English. New York: The Overlook Press.
David Crystal’s book immediately grabs your attention through the characters placed around the table. The images give the illusion of historical men drinking wine, smoking pipes, and discusses important matters of the time. The caption bubbles are the foreshadowing of what’s to come. The introduction states that there are actually two introductions, due to the two stories the book investigates: “Standard English “and “Real Stories”. Crystal recognizes that recorded documents were predominately based on the viewpoint of a white male. This brought me back to the concept of His-story.
I was surprised by the reading. I thought the content was going to be different. I was …show more content…
He discusses his primary education and words like “coloured” made me feel disconnected to the author. In the section,” The standard tradition” he acknowledges three critical facts. One, most people who speak English do not speak standard English. Two, the literature written in English id usually not written in standard English. And third, the language we use with computer communication lacks standard English. As I read this, I immediately thought out a break out session we had yesterday at school. The question posed to us was, “What does professional sound like?” One teacher immediately stated Standard English. I thought to myself “What? Is she being serious?” This educator does not display the use of standard language in our interactions. I pondered if she felt that she was using Standard English compared to our school population and her social interactions. I have not witnessed her choosing different registers based on her audience or setting.
His section discussing British Standard English versus American Standard English drew me back to my time abroad. There your pay scale was based on your level of formal education, plus your accent. There was a hierarchy in pay based on your accent. The scale went from highest pay to lowest pay: United States, then Great Britain, next Austr4alian, and the least paid was the accent from South Africa. This basis based on accent surprised me, but was
David Crystal’s book immediately grabs your attention through the characters placed around the table. The images give the illusion of historical men drinking wine, smoking pipes, and discusses important matters of the time. The caption bubbles are the foreshadowing of what’s to come. The introduction states that there are actually two introductions, due to the two stories the book investigates: “Standard English “and “Real Stories”. Crystal recognizes that recorded documents were predominately based on the viewpoint of a white male. This brought me back to the concept of His-story.
I was surprised by the reading. I thought the content was going to be different. I was …show more content…
He discusses his primary education and words like “coloured” made me feel disconnected to the author. In the section,” The standard tradition” he acknowledges three critical facts. One, most people who speak English do not speak standard English. Two, the literature written in English id usually not written in standard English. And third, the language we use with computer communication lacks standard English. As I read this, I immediately thought out a break out session we had yesterday at school. The question posed to us was, “What does professional sound like?” One teacher immediately stated Standard English. I thought to myself “What? Is she being serious?” This educator does not display the use of standard language in our interactions. I pondered if she felt that she was using Standard English compared to our school population and her social interactions. I have not witnessed her choosing different registers based on her audience or setting.
His section discussing British Standard English versus American Standard English drew me back to my time abroad. There your pay scale was based on your level of formal education, plus your accent. There was a hierarchy in pay based on your accent. The scale went from highest pay to lowest pay: United States, then Great Britain, next Austr4alian, and the least paid was the accent from South Africa. This basis based on accent surprised me, but was