(Coming from someone wanting to be a linguist and is absolutely sick of peopleās elitist English snobbery)
This is driving me nuts. I see people look at internet speak and mistake it for illiteracy. It is not. It is a way to convey ideas, expressions, and feelings that otherwise canāt be done unless in person. It is purposeful. Most people who write in Internet speak are quite capable with standard English grammar. So there is literally no need to bring that snobbish holier-than-thou bullcrap onto this post.
I am so done with āashamedā millienials who feel offended at someone elseās purposeful grammar changes in the way they write or speak. Itās narrow-minded, racist, and shallow.
Narrow-minded, because you (general āyouā for all those elitist grammar snobs) refuse to acknowledge that language is an evolving concept. It doesnāt exist in one state. It canāt. In order to serve us best, it needs to change and evolve and diversify. Communication isnāt universal, and thus, language isnāt. Even one language can have many different iterations due to regional, racial, generational, etc. reasons.
Racist, because this specifically targets racial minorities that have developed their own dialects of English, treating them as invalid and unintelligent. Not the case. Being able to code switch is actually a sign of a strong memory. Just because it isnāt an entirely different language doesnāt mean there isnāt some level of translation going on in the mind when code switching. Bilingualism is a sign of good memory and intelligence yes? Well, so is code switching. Plus: the fact that people treat dialects, such as AAVE, as invalid further encourages the spread of false stereotypes of non-white people being unintelligent.
Shallow, because this criticism for not using the āproperā English grammar is a thinly veiled excuse to claim superiority over others. Sounds like youāre pandering to people who hate millienials. Got some of that golden age nostalgia there, huh?
And whatās especially crazy is how people treat standard English as this concept that canāt be misused or changed. Standard English grammar was put together by writers afraid that people in the future wouldnāt be able to understand what they wrote. They even made up rules. It was white men in Europe who came up with the standard English grammar.
The standard English grammar is only really useful in formal situations. Even then! It is becoming outdated due to rapid changes in Social structures and concepts in a globally connected world. Itās bad news when a dialect or a language starts to stagnate. That means it becomes less useful and more of a hindrance. That is not what language is meant to be. Language is a tool to communicate a message.
And this guy, in his tweets, is doing that effectively, without using standard English grammar.
Standard English is a starting off point to understanding English, but it isnāt the end of the language. Language has so much depth, and to treat people like shit for using different dialects than the standard (which, isnāt really a real dialect. It isnāt naturally one) is so goddamn shallow.
I am so damn done with people acting like you need to speak only one, very limited, version of a language in order to be treated with respect and decency.
Y'aint nuthinā. (And thatās cominā from a southern Texan who donāt like to speak one lick of the standard)
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