18 May 2007

Commentary below

No one's arguing that speaking one way rather than another will help you get a good job, but when you start throwing around words like 'incorrect' and 'subculture', you've completely missed the point. Groups of people are included and excluded through dialect. It's how language works. Does saying 'ax' instead of 'ask' hurt you in a job interview? Sure. Is there a right way and a wrong way to pronounce 'ask'? No, that's the point. In English, things like pronunciation are often contested and differ between dialects. If you are trying to relate to a white interviewer, should you speak more 'white'? I don't know, but it bothers the hell out of me. People who argue these points say you need to get into the system to change it. But if you have to change the way you communicate to get into the system and say that your dialect of English is inferior, I'm wondering who's changing whom...