Date:  Wed, 6 Dec 1995 22:22:07 -0500

From:  SETH SKLAREY <crissiet[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IPOF.FLA.NET>

Subject: Re: Language and Intelligence



A former partner I had in a neighborhood bar hailed from Rochester, NY.

A steady customer we had was raised in L.A. (Lower Alabama.) My partner,

in his assertion of superior intelligence often asked him: "If you're so

smart, how come I can talk like you, but you can't talk like me?"



Seth Sklarey

Wittgenstein School of the Unwritten Word

Coconut Grove, FL

crissiet[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ipof.fla.net



>Rima,

>My apologies to your husband the psychologist, but he seems to have been

>only half-educated by modern linguistics; he should go all they way.

>In what way could vocabulary measure intelligence (if by intelligence we

>mean something really crass like 'the ability to figure things out')? If

>you lack some words, you simply lack them. For example, when you enter a

>new technical field, you clearly do not have the vocabulary for that

>endeavor. Would you say that after you had acquired it you were more

>'intelligent.' Surely not. What I am sure your well-meaning huisband means

>is that we (i.e., psychologists) have developed certain traditional

>'benchmarks' which guide us in the evaluation of intelligence. We assume,

>therefore, that the acquisition of a certain breadth of vocabulary

>(nonspecialized, of course) indicates a certain 'normal' development. While

>this might be a relatively effective device for a homogeneous population

>(and I doubt that it is really effective there), in the midst of diversity,

>it is almost as poopy as dialect prejudice.

>On that latter matter, I like your list of those dialects which are 'really

>heavy, thick' - 'Southern/NY/Oklahoman/etc.'

>If I told you how really heavy, thik Inland Northern, especially urban

>(e.g., Michigan ) dialects sound to me (and make me think of their

>speakers), I would run out of the state that feeds me.

>Of course, now I know that it is not true that everybody north of

>Indianapolis-Columbus (roughly) will not give you the time of day and

>cheat you if they can (surely the mildest of my reactions to Inland

>Northern), but it has required linguistic discipline to arrive at that

>conclusion. Like Virgiknia, I ofetn despair of so-called 'attitude

>changing' priograms, but I think we should keep trying. There is positive

>evidence as well.

>Dennis

>(who has learned to keep a straight face while Inland Northern speakers

>talk) Preston

><preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu,.edu>

>

>

>>At 4:13 PM 12/5/95, STEPHANIE RAE WELLS wrote:

>>>I'm just curious to know if anybody out there still holds the belief that

>>>a persons intelligence can be measured by the way they speak?

>>

>>My husband the psychologist says that while we may recognize that accents,

>>dialects et al. are not good indicators of intelligence, vocabulary is

>>amongst our best indicators. (And on a personal note, I must admit that

>>when I hear a really heavy, thick Southern/ NY /Oklahoman/etc. accent I

>>have to concentrate on not immediately thinking stupid -or at least

>>uneducated.)

>>

>>Rima

>

>