Has American English become homogenized? Have our regional ways of saying particular things - sometimes in very particular ways - receded into the past? Or do we talk as funny as ever?
The term 'eye dialect' was first coined in 1925 by George P. Krapp in The English Language in America (McArthur 1998). The term was used to describe the phenomenon of unconventional spelling used to reproduce colloquial usage. When one encounters such spellings "the convention violated is one of the eyes, and not of the ear". Furthermore, eye dialect would be used by writers "not to indicate a genuine difference in pronunciation, but the spelling is a friendly nudge to the reader, a knowing look which establishes a sympathetic sense of superiority between the author and reader as contrasted with the humble speaker of dialect". Mrs. Cowell's note: Contemporary writers of color now employ eye dialect to show disdain for the word that's misspelled, e.g. Cherokee writer Qwo-Li Driskill uses "AmeriKKKan" to underscore the racism and cultural genocide happening in a country that pays lip service to justice and equity.
Register--the degree of formality employed in language--is dependent on audience, topic, purpose and location. A successful language user should be able to employ the correct register for particular audiences and purposes. There are five types:
1. Frozen/Static Register: This register rarely or never changes. Examples of frozen register include the Pledge of Allegiance or the Preamble to the Constitution.
2. Formal/Academic Register: This register includes academic language from speeches, proclamations and formal announcements.
3. Consultative Register: This register is formal and acceptable speech often used in professional settings. Some examples of this register include discourse between teachers and students, judges and lawyers, doctors and patients, and between a superior and a subordinate.
4. Casual Register: This register is used among friends and peers, and includes informal language including slang and colloquialisms. Casual register is often used among friends, teammates, etc.
5. Intimate Register: This register is reserved for close family members such as parents and children and siblings, or intimate people such as spouses.
The article examines some commonly-used colloquial terms that could be construed as racist, and the reasons behind why those terms are not innocent. Author Michael Coard asserts, "Racism is not just lynching, cross-burning, redlining, employment discrimination, educational barriers, or even malicious slurs, and those who manifest the unconscious and passive form of racism are not so easily identifiable."
This goes into Chinese "chengyu" or four-character idioms used heavily in mandarin, much like our "two birds, one stone." Like English idioms, origins vary between chengyu, but often they're old stories and have been used for ages in colloquial language.
