last blog

When I look back at this class I will realize that I have to change a lot of my views on the way people talk and that is the way they were grown up talking and not that they are unintelligent or just not know how to talk at all. I also will look back at the racism issue and realize to look at what I am going to say before I actually say it so I don't look like a racist.
This was an excellent class even tho I had to cut the class short due to medical issues and complications from the surgery. I took this class as a required class to finish my general courses. But it was one of the most interesting classes I have ever taken. You could tell the professor (Tiffany) took a lot of pride in the work that she did to be prepared every day for class to give the students the most important information that would be beneficial to them throughout there entire life.
This class helped me realize why people even within the United States speak a different form of English and like for example going to Atlanta, Georgia where it is mostly African Americans that live there, why I would not understand some of the English they were saying because they spoke African American English. There word usage was different than myself who is a white suburban male that lives an upscale life here in Utah and some of the way we talk we think is proper but might not be proper in a black dominant place. African American dominant places also use a lot of slang words to get there point across which I love because it has integrated into all of the United States and I find myself using the same kind of slang when I talk to my friends or people I am close with (family).
My favorite part of the class was on racism, because I hate racism but I realized by the things I say someone who is of a different race as I am may take offence to that because it may sound racist to them where it does not to me. Also my last point I loved was the KKK web site where on there front page (I don't remember the exact quote) but it basically was telling the public that they were not racist they were just standing up for the white peoples rights. When clearly they are a racist organization that clearly needs to be stopped.
Thanks for this class I learned a lot I will miss all of you and that great input the whole class gave. I will take a lot out of this class and apply it to my daily life.

Gender and Language

I find it far more easy to express my opinions with women than I do with men. Women are more understanding and less judgmental. That is the perfect atmosphere with which to share one's feelings. Women exhibit a lot of emotion when they speak. They use varied intonations and a ton of facial expressions! I've noticed that I tend to have no emotion on my face when I speak. I think that's a defense mechanism that I use to protect myself from the critical comments of others. I learned that technique in middle school to avoid being picked on. In general, men keep their emotions to themselves and don't allow others to know how they're feeling.

African American English

Da udda day, I was walkin down da street and thinkin bout my old fren Jackson. We use-a be such good frens, and den one day, outta nowhere, he says he don't want ta be my fren no more. It was sad. I felt real bad bout it for a lon time. Den, as I turn the corner, I saw him. He ax me, "How you doin?" I says, "I'm okay. How you doin?" He says, "Okay." I toll him I'm the new manajah of my sto. He says, "Gratulations." He says he been workin real hard addis job and he was sorry dat he hadn't talked ta me in a whiles. He says I look good, and dat we shoo get together sooner ratha dan late-ah. We shook hands and says goo'bye.

That was harder than I thought it would be! I think that AAE speakers should be encouraged to learn proper English. Part of the reason is that you can't succeed in the business world if you don't know how to use proper English. The fact of the matter is that people do discriminate against individuals who don't speak properly! If worse comes to worse, I think that the government should allocate some funds to help AAE speakers get caught up.

Class Discourse Analysis

I believe the reason class participation has gone down is because of our busy schedules. It's not easy juggling school, work, family, friends, etc! I have struggled myself. Sometimes it is just hard to motivate yourself! The course content is good. I think we are just tired of school.

Critical Discourse Analysis

You can't always take something at its face value. You sometimes have to analyze what is really being said. The KKK is a good example. They are trying to say that their organization is one of love when, in fact, they are an organization of hatred. They may love themselves, but they do not love their neighbor! To quote an inspired book, "...by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also."

Last Blog

As I have grown older, I have come to appreciate language. It's amazing that you can fully express yourself with the combination of a few words! Words would be powerless if they didn't have implied meanings attached to them! This semester I have learned that America has many distinct dialects and cultures. I think it is very interesting how some people communicate with one another.

about the class

The biggest thing I learned was that having our language change and morph and having others come into the United States that don't speak our language shouldn't be looked down upon but embraced. It was very interesting to look at New Orleans and see how they take pride in being bilingual with French and others in America take pride in that as well, but when it comes to people who are Spanish speaking the pride quickly dwindles. That's a shame and we need to embrace biculturalism and language is a huge part of that. I really enjoyed this class and loved all the discussions we had.