IJ study archive

Black English named on air as rule-governed dialect — the conviction underneath the Wardine-voice debate, stated by…

echoes

From: The Usage Wars — Bryan A. Garner + DFW, The Connection (WBUR, host Judy Swallow, March 30, 2001)

  • Early text: [scene] Interrupting Garner's fused-participle entry, Wallace inserts that by the internal rules of certain dialects — several forms of Black English among them — the fused participle is perfectly fine [44:45–44:51]; the frame it rests on runs through the hour: standard written English is one dialect among many, everyone shifts dialects below the level of awareness, and monodialectal speakers pay real social costs [11:23–13:29]
  • IJ echo: the Clenette section rendered in Black English, scene 008 (pp. 37–38), the center of the wardine-voice ledger
  • Weight: shared-preoccupation