Adaptation or Extinction?

Language has always been plagued with discrimination towards a "wrong" form of language. However, these conclusions were hardly ever based on the language itself. Most discriminated forms of language were based on opinions towards the users of that form of language. Just as the Scottish were in England, African Americans were discriminated by many things including their language. However, African Americans' magnitude of discrimination was much greater. Unlike the Scottish, African Americans weren't lucky enough to have their own country where their dialect would be praised and accepted. Thus, the African American dialect was constantly under attack. In the fifth episode of The Story of Language, a woman tells of that discrimination while being interviewed. Their dialect, called Gulla Language, was greatly looked down upon reaching the point where the some African Americans were ashamed of the dialect that connected them to their ancestors. 

As the episode continues, it starts showing younger people who speak less traditional forms of the Gulla dialect. This shows how the repression has led the dialect in an evolution that keeps getting closer to what would be considered as standard English despite varying greatly across the country. Sadly, nowadays, supposedly without such strong discrimination towards race, the extinction of the dialect is still in process. Youtube user jposh707 shows his worries by commenting, "I can see it in my own family. My grandmother, who was born in 1917 in New York, speaks much differently than I do. It's sad in a way because I feel that American English has become a lot more homogenized and institutionalized. The color and character of her vocabulary is something that will be lost when she and her generation are gone." This is an example of the death of tradition, a problem that goes way beyond language all over the world. Going back to my argument from my previous post where I argued against the idea that languages helped add diversity to the world by stating that dialects can serve the same purpose, how can people complain that a global language would kill cultures if it is them who don't let cultures develop their own dialects. Going back to jposh707's comment, I find the use of the word "homogenized" very interesting since, when combining two things into one, characteristics of each one are generally applied. This is shown in how many of the words said to be part of the African American dialect have become "American" slang. Though it might die out, African American dialect leaves its mark with the use of words such as "cool" and "bad." In a way, we are all a little black (apologies for the use of such a crude word).

"Black on White." The Story of English. Writ. Robert McCrum and Robert MacNeil. Dir. Vivian Ducat, Howard Reid. BBC MCML XXXVI. YouTube.