End of ADS-L Digest - 7 Apr 1994 to 10 Apr 1994

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There is one message totalling 40 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. Janus Syndrome



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Date:  Mon, 11 Apr 1994 19:40:40 -0400

From:  Mike Agnes <by971[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU>

Subject: Janus Syndrome



T'Other Side of the Coin Department:



Having followed with interest the recent discussion of

personal stigmatization by dialect association

(l'affaire Cokie), I now find the April 1 issue

of the TLS testifying to a curious sort of mirror-image

attitude. In it we have Adam Mars-Jones's review of

James Kelman's "How Late It Was, How Late," a work

apparently narrated in (or at least heavily laden with)

Glaswegian speech forms. M-J in no way condemns

the dialect and remarks on the authenticity

of the language. The unexpected (to me) twist lies

in the following:



  "Too much of the book is only kept by the prestige

  of dialect from sounding like banality . . . ."

  [author's word order; where ARE the TLS's editors?]



I take this as a claim that readers tend uncritically

to accept as "worthy," "insightful," or what have you,

an idea or observation earnestly presented in print

in non-standard dialect. Does this mean that if one's

language is "racy with the soil" (to steal

Padraig Colum's phrase), one will be damned or praised

depending on whether the words are spoken or written?

A curious brace of linguistic prejudices (if it indeed

exists).



--

      Mike Agnes

       Internet: by971[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cleveland.freenet.edu

        Bitnet: by971%cleveland.freenet.edu[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cunyvm

          Fax: 216 579 1255