Say Goodbye to "Baby-Talk" Candace Del Fattore

In today's society, as each day comes and goes so does those fads of what is considered acceptable in regard to how adults regard/talk to kids. The days of adults, specifically those adults that are parents to young children, talking to their children in charismatic, sweet and energetic tones muttering “baby talk” is now on it's way out, toward extinction. Parents and caregivers are trading in their mission to get their young children to mutter the words “baba” or “momma” for a better mission, one that leads them to long and developed sentences. According to the CBS article, “if you (parents) want your kids to learn to talk in the best possible way, a new study suggests you should ditch the baby talk and speak to them in normal sentences” (2014). The article titled, "Speaking to babies in long sentences boosts language development" provides much explanation as to why young children of the past, such as myself, spent much of their infancy getting their cheeks pinched and being begged to speak their first word like their parents “taught” them.

Language development begins as early as infancy or an individual's young childhood. From this young age, children are being spoken to and regarded, commonly in baby talk. Recent studies have provided much reasoning for individuals such as parents and caregivers abandoning these means of communication in order to model more adequate and advanced means of modeling language to children. According to the blog titled, "Mum's the Word" “language skills form the foundation for literacy development and are critical to educational success” (Mum's the Word trademark). This article which was published electronically (online), exposes the way in which parents of this generation are beginning to understand the impact that modeling advanced language skills positively impacts young children, even those under the age of 3. It is evident that those infants and children that are being modeled and talked too far-pass infants and children whose' parents or caregivers are not fostering their language development. The “child-directed speech sharpens infants' language processing skills and can predict future success” as well as promote a child's social and emotional development (Mum's the Word). With all of these benefits to talking to young children in long, developed statements and sentence- why would adults refuse the opportunity to enhance and foster language development.
Though adults may take the time to speak to their children in long, developed statements there is a piece missing to this puzzle which is language development. How do those young children who can not yet speak to model the language skills that they are being taught, in the adults' hopes of fostering language development, use the information they are being taught to their benefit? It can't simply be that children that are modeled advanced language skills and spoken to in regard to more developed skills, acquire a better basis of language development. There has to be more too it. It has been said by researchers that good ways to foster language development include “simply talking babies, which was found to be key to building crucial language and vocabulary skills -- but sooner is better, and long sentences are good” (CBS 2014). Some other ways include turning to authors such as Dr. Seuss for “silly language and tone of his poetry made his books incredibly appealing to a young child” which give students a fun way to learn about language (The Odyssey 2015). Dr. Seuss...one of the classics! It is evident that these advancements from “baby talk” to more advanced sentences give children the ability to develop language and acquire skills they will use for the rest of their lives.

Dr.Seuss motivates student learning and development of language. These sweet and funny quotes are evidence of this.

The Odyssey

CBS News

Mum's the Word

It is Okay for Children to Code Switch

When children are raised bilingual one of the things they tend to do is switch between to languages, this is something that tends to scare parents. When parents hear their children switch between languages mid-sentence they see it as the child being confused with their knowledge of the languages, this is one common misunderstanding about code switching. It is also often seen as a child’s lack of understanding in either of the languages. Children code switch for many reasons and it’s not because of their lack of knowledge or confusion.

“When people know two or more languages they commonly switch between the languages according to: context, the person they are speaking with, the topic and other factors”. When a child code switch it can because what they are trying to get across is easier in another language.  While it is true that code switch can happen when children are still learning a new language and are not comfortable with their knowledge. Children who are fluent can code switch to clarify a point, make request and or express information that does not have equal meaning in the other language.

“Code switching is a natural part of being bilingual, allowing bilinguals to draw ontheir resources from both linguistics code at once. Research conducted by Vu,Bailey and Howes on 4-to-6 year-old bilingual children showed that children would code switch to gain someone’s attention, or to change their speaking roles. This shows that children have the ability to use their two languages for both linguistic and nonlinguistic purpose from a very early age. In research conducted by Reyes on immigrant Spanish-English speaking children between 7-to-10-years-old showed that these children used code switching more often for a wider number of purposes.

           Code switching is something that happens naturally to bilingual speakers, their usage of both languages in the same sentence shows a fluency in both. When a bilingual child code switch its shows that they are actively thinking in both languages. They aren’t just using words but they are also using grammar, and syntax from both the languages. Parents of bilingual child will often hear them code switch, but when a child recognizes that one of their peers isn’t bilingual they are less likely to code switch.

            Parents of bilingual children usually tend to feel the need to correct their child when they code switch but they need accept the fact that when raising a bilingual a bilingual children they will use both their languages to get their point across. Parents shouldn’t panic when their children code switch, and they shouldn’t discourage them from it. When a child code switches it doesn’t mean they don’t know the different between the two languages.

English Language Learners Aren't All Spanish

English Language Learners Aren't All Spanish 

There's other languages to you know....

         When we hear about English Language Learners, the image that often created in our heads are Spanish-speaking students. And, being that the majority of ELL students in America do speak Spanish as their first dialect, this stereotypical image does make sense. However, we cannot forget what the term ELL actually means. It is a general term used for any person who is learning the English language, regardless of their native language. From my own observations, students of the Asian descent, specifically China, are the second most prevalent ELL students. But, the Chinese ELL students tend to be less accommodated for, being that they are less prevalent than the population of Spanish speakers in American public schools. The popular media proves this idea of forgetting the Chinese Americans very clearly. When researching ELL or even learning about non-native speakers in educational classes, hundreds of results come up. And in each article, the main, or only, focus is on Spanish speakers. How could this be?

            In Huffington Post’s blog, “New Model for English Language Learners Needed in U.S. Schools” a general statement was made about the lack of programs created for ELL students. To make readers better understand the position that ELL students are in, The Huffington Post stated, “Imagine if you… moved to Spain and attended a school where all of the curriculum was taught in Spanish” The slightly alarming aspect of this example is that the entire article compares what it is to have your native language be English, versus having Spanish as your native language. It may not seem like much of a deal, but when it comes down to it, Chinese Americans are often forgotten about.

Photo Courtesy of Acacia Center of Ohio

Service for English Language Learners

            In recent years, there is often an emphasis on the need for teachers to be bilingual, specifically in Spanish. The Huffington Post created an article specifically dedicated to this idea, in “Why Demand For Spanish-Speaking Teachers Is Increasing.” In the article, Danielle Restuccia argues that ELL students would benefit directly if they had a Spanish-Speaking teacher, in order to better communicate and assist them in core subjects. Yet again, are these Spanish-speaking teachers going to benefit the Chinese American students? Probably not. Restuccia expresses the struggle in finding Spanish-Speaking potential teachers. “We lack language-learning opportunities…Decreasing opportunities to study Spanish may help to explain why the search for bilingual employees is so difficult.” Spanish. Not any other language is even mentioned let alone a thought of struggle. Ultimately, if the popular media isn’t expressing concern for Chinese American students, how are populations going to see that a change must be done?

            After a very in-depth search for any sort of public concern for these students, I came across a blog created on colorincolorado.org, “From the Classroom: Working with Chinese ELLs.” All in all, Xiao-lin Yin-Croft expressed her experience as a Chinese teacher working with Chinese bilingual students. Keep in mind that this means that the students she works with have a clear understanding of the English language. However, Yin-Croft goes into detail about the differences between not only the language differences, but also the culture differences. The idea of social and cultural differences is a problem that cannot possibly be solved if we do not shed light on this population of students. But the fact that this article was one of the only articles that could be found on the internet based strictly on Chinese American students is preposterous. The incoming teacher candidates of America need to recognize the need for ELL programs that are not native language specific, and we can start by recognizing Chinese natives as equally important population in our classrooms to those of Spanish natives. 

Let’s Talk About Woman Language in a Meeting

            How often do you hear people talking about the difference between men and women in the work place? The discussion seems to revolve around the glass ceiling and how most women cannot rise up in the workplace and be accept the same way as their male coworkers. A lot of this topic stems from the language that women tend to use in their everyday job activities. Research from both scholarly sources and popular articles showcase this theory of “woman in a meeting” language.

            One common assumption people may make about women is that they do not speak up or come off as strong as men do when speaking.  The first scholarly author, Janet Holmes shares that women tend to use  “softening devices” when speaking to someone, specifically in the work place. Smart Business Network validates Holmes’ idea by stating that these devices includes hedges and questions, which in turn softens the impact of the woman’s words. The popular website also gives examples of when women use these softening devices, such as stating “If you get a chance, will you please draft and send me the meeting notes at your convenience?” From personal experience, I can admit that I have stated similar phrases on numerous occasions to keep “peace” between my audience and myself. However, I do agree with Smart Business Network that this type of statement is very different than, “Please draft and send me the meeting notes tomorrow.”

         In addition, research shows that not only is it how women say something, but more specifically what words they are choosing. Priscilla Berry and Tommy J. Franks’ article discusses how specific words carry various connotations depending on who is the speaker. For example, when one states he/she is leaving a job. Berry and Franks discuss that a woman leaving a job can translate to the woman not being able to cope within the job. Yet, a man leaving a job may not face the same conclusion.

    Cosmopolitan’s author, Tess Koman, supports this thought by sharing a video created by an advertising company. This video shows men reading their female coworkers thoughts that they have throughout the workday.The picture to the right shares the exact quote from the pregnant coworker and how she felt when she told her boss she was having a baby. This comment reveals how a woman’s boss automatically assumed she would not return to work or by leaving, she was ruining her career. However would the boss’ comment have been the same if it were a male taking some time off of work for family? In most cases, probably not. In fact, the male worker may have even heard a “congratulations!” 

            The above research points to the overall conclusion that the way women speak and their word choice makes a complete impact on their positions in the work force. While some may say there is no such thing as women not receiving the same respect as men, research proves that there is a distinction between male and female workers’ speech. Throughout both the popular and scholarly sources, there are several real life examples of “women in a meeting” language in which many, including myself, can relate to.

African American Vernacular English

The idea that African American English Vernacular is not a dialect, but it purely “uneducated” mainstream English is something that linguists have been combating for decades. Mary Zeigler and Viktor Osinubi allude in their article to the fact that America is a postcolonial country and that the effects of slavery are clear throughout the country’s array of dialects. Furthermore, they suggest that the legitimacy of languages is determined by the elite class/race, which makes sense as to why many of us believe that AAVE is purely “uneducated” and “grammatically incorrect” –it has been drilled into our heads, by many white elitists, that any other different variation of mainstream English is wrong and must be “fixed.”

One point that Andrew Billings makes is that in a study of dialectical perceptions, AAVE scored lowest out of many different dialects in one’s perception of competence. This means that people of all races rated those who speak AAVE as the least competent of the bunch without any knowledge of the person who spoke, i.e. this was his/her perception of those who spoke in AAVE.

Unfortunately, it seems as though our mainstream culture would agree with the (ironically) uneducated idea that AAVE is just an excuse to being unable to speak mainstream English. On a popular site perused frequently by young people everywhere, Urban Dictionary, the “top definition” of Ebonics, or AAVE, was “A poor excuse for a failure to grasp the basics of English. When in doubt, throw an ‘izzle’ sound in the middle of any word of just string random thoughts together and insinuate that they actually mean something.” While this is not the immediate definition that viewers see, it is the “top” chosen definition, which implies that most Urban Dictionary viewers agree with this definition most out of others given. This definition belittles the dialect, which lends to its perception of being less competent, and makes it into a painfully accurate joke of what the perception of AAVE is today.

Another article that contributes to the idea that AAVE is construed as being incorrect mainstream English is an article by Reuben Johnson called “Stop Talking White, You’re Black.” In this article Johnson, while holding good intentions, reinforced the fact that many Americans hold the idea that AAVE is improper English. In the aforementioned article by Billings, those involved in the study rating the competency perceptions of each of the different dialects were descendants of all different races. Therefore, African American subjects rated AAVE as lowest in competency as well as the other races involved in the study. This shows that this issue is not merely dichotomous, but the judgment lies within the African American race as well. In his article, Johnson says that another person of color told him not to “talk white,” which he interpreted as talking “properly,” but what is really meant is that the man who said this to him recognized Johnson’s dialect as being mainstream English as opposed to AAVE. Unfortunately, Johnson continues then to reinforce this idea that mainstream English is the only “proper” way of speaking.

"Talking white" or "talking black" (aka talking in AAVE) have become terms that are
understood in very different connotations- one being "proper" and the other being
"uneducated."
[Source] 

The evidence in a small selection of the scholarly sources I have found, such as Billing’s article, support the idea that mainstream culture thinks negatively of AAVE. Furthermore, Zeigler and Osinubi’s article gives evidence as to why people today may think this way about AAVE.

Why is Sociolinguistics in Public Speaking Ignored?

What is something that every student around the globe has in common? The answer is language. No matter what country you are from, or what language you speak, sociolinguistics in public speaking is important to everyone. But why is it ignored? Think of this scenario: You are a senior at your four-year University. You are in your last semester to earn your bachelors degree in lets say English. You have this professor who is new to the campus, and during his lessons he does not look at his students, he has terrible posture, and his voice is mellow along with his mumbling. How could that be avoided?

It is important to ensure that this scenario never becomes a reality. That will not happen if the world begins to understand the importance of sociolinguistics in public speaking. This topic is not represented enough in popular media, and it is time for everyone to open their eyes to sociolinguistics in public speaking. At Monmouth University, there is a slogan on the website that says "Where leaders look forward." But if this topic is not taught or studied then who will our leaders of tomorrow be? Every single major that is studied needs to use sociolinguistics. Without it, the students will fail in their careers. This is topic is swept under the rug for reasons that cannot be explained. It may seem like an obvious thing; public speaking, but you would be surprised how many people get nervous or dread speaking in public. That is why sociolinguistics in public speaking should be introduced more in popular media.

Sociolinguistics helps people understand language. According to the article What is Sociolinguistics? Explain its Scope and Origin, it explains the socio-economic situations of individuals. It also goes into detail about the three levels of sociolinguistics and what they mean.

This screenshot was taken from the above article explaining the three levels of sociolinguistics.

The article then discusses Micro-Sociolinguistics and Macro-Sociolinguistics, which basically differs slightly. Micro-Sociolinguistics refers to dialect or speech patterns, where as, Macro-Sociolinguistics emphasizes on society based on its language. 

As stated earlier, language is perhaps the most common feature around the world, but it is also the most impactful way to understand human behavior. According to The Linguistic Society of America, sociolinguistics has become an important field of study due to the fact that cultures around the world are looking to broaden their communication and language. Basically, sociolinguistics determines certain factors of a persons behavior. However, without sociolinguistics in public speaking it will be impossible for listeners to understand or learn someones behaviors. Not studying or including sociolinguistics in public speaking is denying people's rights to speak, not only about a topic they feel strongly about, but also to inform people of their sociolinguistic behaviors.

In the article Sociolinguistic and Pragmatic Aspects of Public Speaking Discourse, the author touches on similar topics mentioned by the other two articles. However, the author included how important our words are. Our words give our thoughts and ideas meaning, and not giving students the chance to learn that could be devastating to people around the world. 

Benefits of Text Messaging Slang Among Students

Cell phones have changed the world and created a new way of conversing with one another through abbreviated words and a newly developed type of slang.  Teenagers and young adults are the ones most involved within the field of text messaging language which has caused many to think text messaging has a negative impact on the development of appropriate forms of language.  It is thought that teenagers are too consumed in text messaging that they begin to use the slang in school situations such as formal papers, but numerous studies have shown that text messaging can actually have a positive impact on students' communication and language development. 

Text messaging can have a positive impact on students, especially teenagers, in the classroom, because they learn and improve skills in different areas such as literacy.  Many individuals will automatically assume students' learning skills are declining in areas such as spelling and writing due to the overuse of text messaging slang, but little evidence validates that belief.  To support this, a study was conducted were a group of students were given a handset to engage in text messaging over ten weeks while the other group did not receive the handset.  According to Graeme Paton, the group that received the handset, showed the correlation between spelling and text messaging which resulted in a "highly phonetic nature" from the abbreviations used.  Also, textism encouraged the students to partake in writing outside of school which fosters their writing skills.  Ahmed Al Shlowiy mentioned in his article how text messaging can be an important concept among teenagers because it involves the consistency of writing and when one writes frequently they are improving their writing skills.  These two articles show similar characteristics for motivation towards enhancing teenagers and young adults' writing skills and abilities.  Writing is something most individuals need to practice on a regular basis in order to develop and build strength with it.  Text messaging has this ability to do so because individuals are constantly writing out different words to one another even if it is through abbreviations and slang.

Not only can text messaging encourage teenagers and young adults to participate in writing outside of the classroom, but it can improve their spelling and grammar skills as well.  Claire Carter stated that abbreviations from the use of text messaging requires teenagers to sound out the word in order to form the correct abbreviations they want to use.  Sounding out the words/abbreviations will help the individuals in the future by learning and writing new words.  In situations where individuals are unaware of a word, or if it is a brand new word to them, they will use their abilities to sound out each letter to form the correct sound of the entire word.  This brings in the idea that text messaging can relate to phonetics and is phonetically based because of the fact that individuals are sounding out each letter.  Individuals are recognizing the skills they have already learned regarding phonetics and finding the correlation between how the words sound and how they are written.  Magdeline Lum stated, the teenagers and young adults that are currently in school will bring together their knowledge of written and spoken language.  This correlates with the sounding out of unknown words that individuals do because they are bringing the skills they learned in the classroom into their everyday lives.  

A student/teenager engaging in text messaging can connect and  be beneficial in the classroom
http://inthechat.com/products/campusconnect-text-messaging-schools/